In the next week or so I will post more about this, however, I am so excited I thought I’d just spill the beans now!  Over the last couple months I have been studying for and beginning work on the new Mission Prep Workbook.  As you may recall, last years MPWB was a guided study through the first five chapters (and beginning of the sixth) of Acts.  The title for last year was move: mission prep workbook.  Really, that title was a play on words.  Up through those first six chapters of Acts the Apostles/Disciples were in fact, not moving.  Though Jesus has given the command that we (Christians) will be His witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the world, the disciples remained in Jerusalem (and obedient to the Spirit in doing so).  So, I titled the book move because in many ways there was a lot of movement (the church growing from a few hundred to literally thousands).

So, as I began the studying for and writing of this years training and workbook I did not yet have the theme nailed down.  Then it hit me (in Hawaii of all places). The theme for the training packages for the 2010 Youthmark Mission Ventures is Story.

When you think of literature, movies or even a good bedtime story growing up–the key to those stories is often Character Development.  Well, the key to God’s Story being told in and through us is the Character Development of the individuals.  Many a book I have read I have been drawn to because the way the author has developed the main characters in his or her book.

Acts 6-13 focuses a lot on the character development of the main players in the foundation of the church and church missions.  So it is with us.  We will focus on character development and our ability to proclaim His story in and through our lives!

I’ll be able to debut the prospectus and some of the graphic design within the next week or so, until then, praise God for the theme that has me so excited and pray to God that His story of your character development would tell His story to others!

Grace,

Brian