Month March 2010

Top Five Tuesday: Opening Day

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Sorry, almost tardy on the entry, an extremely busy time and an even more extremely busy day.

Today’s top 5 has to do with one of my favorite traditions, Opening Day!  I’ll be at Safeco on opening day once again and this quick list highlights the top 5 things I am looking forward to about being at the Safe!

Without further ado and so I can get to bed, the list.

Five: Tradition! Going the game with my wife (and now more family) has been such a fun tradition!  I can’t remember the last opening day I missed!  It helps to have an incredibly wonderful “gifter” each year who makes this tradition possible!

Four: The Food at the Hit It Here Cafe. The food isn’t the best, but it’s not the worst either… but the very fact that I’m eating it while watching the M’s makes it get on the top 5!

Three: Magnet Calendar! This would be number 1 on Elisabeth’s list.  We get a free refrigerator magnet of the M’s schedule every year!

Two: The Player Introductions. The roar of the crowd is quite contagious.  Looking forward to hearing Ken Griffey Jr. announced one more time on opening day!

One: The Actual Game! I love baseball, I love the M’s and I am looking forward to seeing the season start!

Got any opening day favorites of your own?

Grace,
Brian

CONTEST: W.A.I.T.

Brian Aaby 12 Comments

Another “What Am I Thinking” contest has popped up on my blog!  This time, the winner will receive your choice of one of the new Youthmark T-shirts about to hit the market at the Spring Retreat!

You come up with the thoughts of this person, or these person and essentially give the photo a caption (comment).

I’ll narrow the field of entries into those who are in the running (this list grows, so keep them coming even if I have posted the first few contenders), then after a couple days I’ll name the winner!

Grace,

Brian

************ IN THE RUNNING *************

Steroids ruins another culture! ~ Aaron

I’m tired of your excuses. You’re going to Idaho with Youthmark! ~Marc

I’ll never say my mom’s cooking is better…ever again! ~ Jared

Hey batter, batter, batter. Swing Batter! ~Dave

Why he surprised? I tell him I am swinger. ~ AJS

*********And the Winner Is…***********

“Why he surprised?  I tell him I am swinger.”  ~AJS

You get a free shirt of choice from Youthmark… they are pretty special this year, I’ll show you next time you’re around!

Great entries everyone!

Keep Them Coming!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

You ever do anything stupid-silly?  I do.

One time I was driving down to California with my wife and one of our students (have I ever told you the Golden Boy story?, If no, leave a request, I can blog that one for sure)… Anyway, Elisabeth, Kevin and I are driving down to California, Kevin is eating some Ritz-bitz crackers stuffed with peanut butter (or was it cheese?).  He stuffed several into his mouth and said, “keep them coming.”  As his face became more and more chipmunk our laughter grew.  One by one we passed him cracker sandwiches, one by one he found more room. We literally ran out of Ritz before he ran out of mouth.  Classic funny (except the laughter did eventually cause him to spew dry cracker all over the inside of our car…)!

We ran out of crackers before he ran out of mouth…

What if we approached our prayer life the same way? What if we really understood that we could never out-ask God? He will field our praise, requests and worship more than we could ever give.

I say this in response to your prayers on behalf of Youthmark. The last two days (since my Top 5 Tuesday post on prayer) have been wonderful for the ministry and it is SO obvious that people have been praying.  God opened up doors in Alaska (and CO, AZ and MT).  But please DO NOT stop.  He (The Lord) still has room for your prayers/praise!

Please pray for more contacts and more doors to open and for solid connections for our sending/receiving places!

Keep praying!  Thanks!

Grace,
Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Youthmark Prayer Requests

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

I am not a “prayer warrior” as many call it.  I like to pray, but I am not as reliant as I would like to be, so please pray that I would pray more!  And while you’re at it, read this unique top 5 and please lift up these things that I feel are at the top of our prayer list!

The criteria for todays list:  The things that immediately come to mind that I would like you to lift up on behalf of me and the ministry of Youthmark.

Without further ado, the list…

Five: Prayer! This may seem  like a weird thing to pray for, but I do pray that hundreds, no, thousands more would join us in prayer.  I am praying that Youth Pastors who are training students RIGHT NOW, would utilize the youthmark.com blog website and that YOU would go there and begin praying for a team.  We have over 40 churches doing trips, but as of right now, only two churches have started the prayer blog.  Pray that they would get started on the communication side of prayer requests.  Prayer IS the fuel for these students, parents and leaders!  As soon as you’re done reading this post, I invite you to go there and pick a team to pray for!

Four: Spring Retreat; Challenge 2010. There is much “finish work” going on right now for the 2010 Spring Retreats.  They begin in less than a month and I feel fantastic about them, but as I stated, there is still much to be done.  Pray that the six retreats serve as a great training tool for missions here, missions now!

Three: Writing 2010 RoadGrip, HomeBase and Merge. The devotional guides for the trip and the following the mission trip are being written right now.  Pray that the writing process goes well and that the Lord gives us the insights we need in leading people through His Word during and after the trips.  RoadGrip and HomeBase are going to concentrate on key characters early in Acts and Merge this year is going to look at the life of Joshua.

Two: Receiving Towns/Churches. We are in the middle of the “scouting” season.  This is where we are looking for the connection places for our sending teams.  Pray that the right churches/pastors are open to receiving a well trained team to help reach their local community for Christ.  Because our teams come in and provide a spark, we need to be sure we’re connected with the right places equipped for the follow-up work.  Pray specifically for Alaska right now.  Because the Alaska Marine Highway dictates where we can go/when we can go, it is a difficult land.  Pray God opens the right doors in His timing!

One: Missionship! Youthmark does send teams out on trips, but his is NOT what drives us.  We are committed to the “training for the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip.”  Missionship is a term I came up with to describe a “missionary always, all-ways a missionary.” In Matthew 28:19-20 we read about THE Cause of Christ and Christians–our calling to make disciples all the time (wherever we are).  So, please pray that the students and leaders we train would understand that though they have the privilege of a trip, that they’d be about Missionship!

What can I be praying about for you?

Grace,
Brian


Friday with Friends

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Elisabeth and I had a great night with friends on Friday.

The evening started with dinner.  It was decent.  The window at the restaurant says, “Mexican Style Food.”  Interesting.  So was the food.  It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t the best.  Later, when I told a friend who works down near that restaurant that I had gone, he said, “yeah, we’ve all been there once.”

Then we made our way over to Calvary Chapel South where Tim Hawkins was doing a show.  Tim is a comedian, if you have not seen him here is a one minute sampling.

We had a great night, lots of laughter.  A much needed break.

Grace,

Brian

What is Your Cause?

Brian Aaby 3 Comments

Years ago a Southern California Pastor released a couple of books that caused millions to ponder the question of purpose…

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is?  I have asked that question for myself.  And I know.

As a person who has placed my faith in Jesus (through His grace alone), I KNOW the Lord has left me here with purpose, with a cause, in fact, with THE Cause.

He tells me in Acts 1:8, “You will be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost…” He says in Matthew 28:19-20, “makes disciples…”

THE Cause is the rebranding of the 300+ year old name, “Great Commission” which in actuality is about a 2000 year-old command that Jesus Himself gave us.

This morning I gathered with eight Youth Pastors at a local coffee shop and I heard each of these Pastors share about their students who are now pumped about living out THE Cause.  Many re-introduced to this call at Dare 2 Share.  They relayed stories of students departing church on Sunday with the purpose of sharing the Grace of God with friends and strangers in their neighborhoods.  They told stories of students not just talking about it, but doing it.

The question to the Youth Pastors (and Youth Leaders/Parents):  Will you?

We want our students to live & share THE Cause, but as parents, leaders and Youth Pastors, are we?

I am committed to consumed by/for THE Cause.  It is my life… may my words, thoughts and actions reflect THAT Cause.

Youthmark is passionate for consumed by/for THE Cause.  It is our purpose!  May students/leaders/parents be trained for the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip!  May we be about missionship (a missionary always, all ways a missionary)!

This isn’t about Youthmark.  It’s not about Dare 2 Share. It’s not about me/you. It’s about redemption, calling and purpose–it’s all about Jesus.

A note to those who don’t know know/think they have a relationship with Jesus: The Lord created you to be in relationship with Him.  Because you (and I, and everyone) has sinned, we have broken that relationship; you and I have turned our back on the God who loves us passionately.  Because He loves so passionately He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to be our living sacrifice, a payment for our sin through His death on the cross–so that we may, once again, be in relationship with the Lord. This FREE and UNMERITED gift from the Lord came in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We now may have life eternally with Him (starting now)!  If you have never placed your faith in Him, it would be my honor to help you to understand how you can do that.  Please email me at brian{at}youthmark{dot}com.

Let’s live/and speak out THE Cause!

Grace,

Brian

Top Five Tuesday: My Current iPhone Apps

Brian Aaby 5 Comments

An obvious category that I have not yet posted about would be the Apps on my iPhone.  I kind of had this one in the reserves for a Tuesday when nothing else was popping to mind.

Let me first state, I love my Lord, I love my wife, kids and extended family. I love my friends and I love the Lost (those whom have not placed their faith in Christ… yet).  Somewhere in the middle of the list falls my iPhone as well.

So, the criteria for today, I can only choose the apps I currently have on my iPhone, and my hope is that this list actually causes some folk to comment me some suggestions for new apps as well!

Without further ado, the list…

Honorable Mentions: Zippo Lighter, Paper Toss, SportsCenter, Mars Hill, Holy Bible, Flixster and The VIP Card.

Five: Dragon. I get pretty ticked seeing people on the roads on their cell phones and texting, well, Dragon is the cure.  This is a voice dictation app that allows me to text by voice.  Keeping my hands free.  The fun part, it’s not always right, so some of the things it hears compared to what I actually said give me some comic relief!

Four: Hearts. What can I say, I love me some hearts.  The nice thing with this game compared to the old Windows hearts game on a PC… these computer players don’t let you shoot the moon on every hand.

Three: Facebook. Who isn’t on FB?  Seriously, whether you’re waiting in the doctors office and need a cure for boredom or if you’re needing to get in touch with a friend but don’t have a cell # or email for them on you, FB will hook you up!

Two: Camera. I realize that most phones have cameras now, but not all have video cameras.  The ease of taking a video and/or photo and quickly emailing it is pretty amazing.  The quality continues to improve on both of these cameras, and as long as you’re pretty close to the action, the pics turn out pretty nice!

One: Maps! See ya later Dog, you have been replaced as “man’s best friend.”  Your nose could never point me in the right direction as often as the Maps App on the iPhone has.  Seriously, you don’t even need to know the address of the place you’re headed, I can simply put the name of the place (i.e. “Red Robin”) and this app will give me turn by turn directions!  I cannot imagine doing a YMV Scout trip w/o my iPhone (thought the AT&T service area needs to improve, or Verizon needs to land the next contract with Apple).

Alright, give me some great ones.  I have yet to pay for an App, so that may tell you what kind of App I am looking for!

Grace,
Brian

Whirlwind Days

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Quick highlights of the last few days… with the promise of some in-depth reporting on a few of these in the days ahead.

Montana Sunrise on Wednesday

Tuesday & Wednesday: YMV Scout trip for our teams headed to Montana this summer.  I drove to Spokane, picked up Kirk Petersen at midnight on Monday, we were in Missoula by late morning Tuesday and scouted about 10 communities covering several hundred miles in two days.  I was home and in bed by about midnight on Wednesday.  CRAZY.

Greg Stier

Thursday: Kent/Renton Network meeting; meeting with a potential YMV team for this summer and then up to Seattle to meet with Greg Stier, the President of Dare 2 Share Ministries.  It was an honor to grab coffee with a guy and ministry I respect a lot.  After the coffee I quickly met with Frankie Santana (former student, current worship team drummer for Youthmark and also helping me with a special project). Then I got some down time with the family and cuddle time on the couch with my bride catching up on a few DVR’d shows.

Friday and Saturday: Coffee with Carlos Huizar, a friend and Youth Pastor in West Seattle, lunch with Nathan &Megan Schlaud (YP & Wife from West Seattle), picked up Jason Lamb (Dare 2 Share friend) and delivered him from airport to the Key Arena and then back home for a couple hours.  At home I met with Philip Kim (YP from Federal Way) and then I went back up to Seattle for Dare 2 Share.  There on both Friday night and Saturday for most of the day I was helping with a few things behind the scenes (for both D2S and Chris Renzelman/interlinc) and hanging out with a bunch of Youth.  Very excited about THE Cause (more on that later, for sure).

Now I rest at home thinking of the weeks ahead that include prep for our Spring Retreats, scouting for missions, completion of study guides and much, much more.  For now… I rest.

Grace,
Brian

Fun Discovery

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Just came across something fun on the web…

Several months ago my friend Mike Gaines approached me and asked me to pray about speaking at his denominations Summer Camps this summer.  Both of the camps had slight conflicts with dates in that I thought I’d have to leave one night early.  Therefore, I asked Mike if he wanted me to invite a guy whom I’m helping get his speaking-career going.

It’s going to be a blast to co-teach with Mike Penberthy at these two camps.  Mike, a former NBA player with the Lakers is really developing into a great communicator!  He’s got passion for the Word and sharing it with others!

Here’s the link to the promo for the camps!  Take a second and pray for us!

Grace,
Brian