Month October 2009

Welcome to the new look and site!

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

I made the move…

The blog now has a simplified title… just looking out for you, the reader, I just saved you 9 finger strokes (wordpress) and you can get to the blog just that much quicker!

The new site comes with a new look; my thought is that I’ll update the header every few months just to keep it fresh!

As Youthmark continues to make strides, as I have the opportunity to write and speak a little more often, I thought it’d be fun to have a new blog and a new look.

Thanks for coming by and checking out the new site!  My hope is that you’ll continue to lift us up in your prayers (the Aabys and Youthmark)!

Speaking of making strides, I will be announcing one really cool stride on Sunday as well!  Stay tuned!

Grace,
Brian

Youthmark Prayer Requests

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It’s been awhile since I listed some specific things to be praying for for Youthmark.

I hope you’ll bring these things to Jesus on our behalf!  Thanks!

Pray for the Youth Leaders lunches.  I get to preview the training materials and the three different missions packages we are offering.  My prayer is that Youth Leaders see the passion I/we have for our own Jerusalem and see this as a practical way to train students to reach out at home! Leader lunches remain in the San Diego area, North LA area, Houston, Dallas, Seattle and Portland.

Pray for the development of all the written materials for 2010.  Including the Mission Prep Workbook, RoadGrip, HomeBase, Merge and the Leaders Guides.

Pray for the FOF.  I’ll post more about this tomorrow or over the weekend, but I have a somewhat major announcement along these lines and I really believe God’s work through online witness is just beginning!  I think the FOF Challenge is going to be used in a mighty way!

Pray for Kirk Petersen. He is representing Youthmark in Oregon and doing a fantastic job!  Pray that he finds balance in his work with Youthmark and Alpha Ministries!

I am so thankful for what has happened thus far with Youthmark and I hope you’re praising God with me for the work He is doing!

Grace,
Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Disciplines in my life

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Here is a first for me, posting from my iPhone! Fun stuff!

Today the top 5 will take you to a rediscovered passion in my life… Discipline! I am really trying to lead a disciplined life in several areas right now, and this is the current list of my top disciplines I’m passionate about.

Without further ado… the list.

Five: Not using the iPhone while driving. Though I answer or place calls (using hands free of course), I am doing my best to not look at alerts (texts, emails, etc.) and especially not send them. With the average age of kids getting phones being younger and younger, I can’t help but think that we are going to see an increase in the number of accidents due to texting (since most teens use text as their primary form of communication). So, I am going to do my part to avoid the temptation to look while driving! Join in please!

Four: Driving my kids to school as much as possible! Because I do have to travel from time-to-time I want to take advantage of the times I am home by getting the individual time in the car with Halle and Audrey. Right now I take Halle to school most days and do my best to get Audrey to and from school several days during the week. This helps me establish some regular “office” hours as well!

Three: Scripture Reading. Now, for those who want me to be super spiritual you’re wondering why this isn’t #1? Well, I love the Word, it isn’t a struggle for me to be in the Word, and to be quite honest this simply doesn’t take as much discipline as some of the others!

Two: Bike Riding (coupled with eating right). I do my best to get out on my bike 4-6 times per week. If I don’t get my 11.5 mile ride in at least 3 times a week I get a little cranky. It’s not that I love riding (though I like it), I love the feeling of being in shape and feeling healthy!

One: Personalized, passionate and disciplined prayer! I need to be more disciplined in this area. I want to see myself as reliant and respond accordingly. I have a love for the lost, I want to show that by how much I pray for the lost! I have a passion for Youthmark, I want that passion to turn to prayer. I love my family, I want to thank the Lord more for the family through my prayer life.

So, what disciplines are you working on? Any of mine strike you?

Grace,

Brian

To Do Today

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Sorry, been completely swamped the last few days, good things, just swamped.  So I present todays “To Do:”

Morning meeting at my house with a new friend, talking “relationships”… Check

Starbucks meeting with a Youth Pastor… Check (I showed, he didn’t, got caught in a meeting, he’s excused)

Lunch at home and take Audrey to school… Check

Meeting with Ben Buckley at different Starbucks… Check

Send 100 emails to Youth Pastors in Colorado Springs… Check (only another 100 to go).

Stop By Faith to ask Aaron a question… Check (he was busy, but did call me later, while on my ride and I asked question then)

Pick up Audrey from school… Check

Bike Ride 11.5 miles, then shower (that second part was very important)… Check

Text my Young Life guys… Check

Post on my Blog… CHECK!

After Young Life tonight I have more of a to do list, but that’ll do for now.

Thanks for checking in on my day, whether you wanted to or not:  Check!

Grace,
Brian

News and Notes…

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Coming to the end of what has been one of the more busy weeks I can remember in quite-some-time.  Don’t have too much time to write, but have a couple things of note to pass on.

  • Youthmark.com has just gone live with a little redesign and totally updated Mission Venture information.  You can see that a new tab was created, Missions, to consolidate and highlight the YMV’s.  The blogs can now be found under that tab.  When you have the opportunity go there and check it out!
  • One of the major things we have been working on can be found on that site, the Youth Leader Meals being offered in 8 different cities to promote the Youthmark Mission Ventures.  In short, I’ll be heading to those places to host a lunch (and in one case, brunch) to meet Youth Leaders and share with them the vision/strategy of YMV.  Appreciate your prayers! If you know any Youth Director/Pastor types in those areas, encourage them to go to the site and register for the free meal!
  • Today I am putting the finishing touches on the presentation for EXPOSED.  This event takes place tomorrow at Highline Christian and is being put on by Family Academy.
  • My favorite Tweet I read yesterday was from Jeremy Johnson (a newer friend, great guy, does a lot of speaking).  His Tweet: When I die, the last thing I am going to say is “unquote.”
  • Have two different meetings today with guys I really respect and have played significant roles in my life.  Andy Heider and Chris Renzelman.
  • Based on the stats, it looked like yesterday’s post (here) was one of my most read ever.  Hope people are not just reading it, but that we’re doing it!

Have a great day!

Grace,
Brian

Calling on (or calling out?) All Youth Pastors

Brian Aaby 3 Comments

I have had a number of fantastic conversations with my friends in youth ministry lately. Quite often the subject matter has turned toward the pulpit and the type of messages we are hearing (or speaking).  Subsequently, I had an online conversation last night that really put me over the top in my desire to write this post.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Tell me why you were somewhat critical of the speaker from the camp?  It seems like many students and even other youth pastors liked him from what I read on facebook.

Friend: Ask those people if this speaker ever once mentioned the Gospel (or the cross)?

This opened up a great dialog, we spoke for quite some time about our philosophies of preaching, Bible Clubs on campus, Christian media, etc.  It was truly a wonderful conversation!

I love his jealousy for the Gospel and the need for us (as ministries) to make the public proclamation of Christ from our pulpits/speaking venues.  But through this conversation I found myself getting more and more bothered.  I began to project my frustration I have felt in other conversations with other people onto this conversation last night.  I had bottled it up for too long, I was the 2 liter of Coke that had been dropped and shaken and it was time to pop the top…

Ahh, the relief of spilling over through a rant.

So often the guys/gals I find most jealous for the public, bold and clear proclamation of the Gospel from the pulpit–those who want speakers/preachers to really point toward Christ & the Cross through every message (which is the right thing to want, btw)–are the very same people who need to examine their own life to see if they are making private proclamations of the Gospel in one-on-one conversations.

I pray that I say this in all humility and with all sincerity (while looking in the mirror).  For years I hid behind the pulpit and preached at students to get out and share their faith.  I challenged the students to invite friends to their lives and begin to share the good news not just with their life, but with their words.  I attempted to always preach Christ crucified in every message I spoke (even from obscure OT passages).  But I didn’t talk much about my private evangelism, namely because it didn’t happen too much.  It was easy to preach, harder to do.

I found myself frustrated that students weren’t getting out of their holy huddles.  I saw youth group after youth group becoming 3-times-a-week gatherings for the saved, even though one or two of those meetings was geared toward the lost.  I saw and heard about parents bothered that churches weren’t offering enough for their kids–so then the Youth Pastors feel like they need to do more.

In doing more, are we forsaking the lost?

Ultimately, I want students to reproduce themselves on their own campus, clubs and in their community.  If I truly want that, I better be doing it myself.

Let’s stay jealous for the pulpit. Let’s call ourselves to a higher standard when preaching the Word and pointing toward the only way of Salvation.  But, let’s talk about it in many 4-5 minute conversations with others instead of just 45 minutes sermons at others.

Grace,
Brian

Top 5 Tuesday: Commercial Plot Lines

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

As I sat down this morning to write out my top 5 list for the Top Five Tuesday series my brain was dead.  Writers block remained and I got to work on many of the other tasks that were far less important than the much anticipated Top 5 (I kid, of course).

About 20 minutes ago it hit me:  Commercials!

With Tivo and DVR’s we’re able to fast forward most the commercials on TV, so my criteria for today’s Top 5: What are the top commercials that I’ll stop the fast forward to actually watch? I added a criteria as well, I chose only commercials that are part of a series, an ad campaign, not just a single commercial.

Without Further Ado:  The List

images-4Five: Fave 5, Tmobile, starring Charles Barkley and D. Wade. I debated putting in a whole category of “adult beverages” at the number five slot, because, c’mon, some of those commercials are just very funny.  However, I am happy to keep it cleaner and let Tmobile take to spot here.  I’m a basketball fan, so I understand this one isn’t going to be everybody’s favorite, but I find them pretty funny and they make the top 5 on the strength of some pretty clever wise-cracks.

images-3Four: This Is Sportscenter.  These have been on for years now, and I’d say that 90% of them are absolutely hilarious.  The 10% that aren’t funny are the reason for the series making their debut at #4 and not higher on the list; some of them are just not good. Good work ESPN!

images-2Three: Even a Caveman Can Do It. Never watched the show, these guys were only meant to be seen in a 30 second spot!  Love ’em.  I have no idea why Geico does the stupid “stack of bills with glasses” thing.  Even the Gecko ad-line is not very good.  But they hit a homerun with the Cavemen.  Clever, witty and makes me want to go give the cavemen and cave-hug!

images-1Two: Jack.  Though a few of the commercials push the envelope, you rarely can go wrong with a Jack In The Box commercial, at least the ones that star “Jack.”  I just love the facial expressions and his dead-pan voice.  My kids (okay, really my wife), really love a recent one (pictured) where the woman ends by saying “Street Rad Crazy.”  The commercials are typically totally unpredictable; hilarious stuff.

imagesOne: Mac vs. PC.  No question, hands down the best advertising series out there.  Even if I have seen the commercials before I stop and watch them again.  Brilliant ad campaign because the people at Mac capitalized on the nebulous “PC” brand (which there is not a company called PC).  So, in order to counter the campaign one of the PC companies would have to step up the plate to take on Mac head-to-head, and in so doing would be advertising for all PC’s.  And, if Microsoft were to go directly after Mac, that would be stupid as well, since Microsoft designs some software for Mac (and with the Apple market continuing to grow, you don’t want to tick off the powers that be there, because soon they may be the ones paying the bills for you).  Obviously, I am a Mac-vangelist, but even some of my PC acquaintances (can I call them friends?… I kid again, of course) tell me, “I love these commercials.”

Perhaps next week (or soon) I’ll do the top 5 Mac vs. PC commercials!  That’d be a fun list.

So, what are some of the commercials I am missing?  Which ones do you agree with?  Where was I wrong?  Back it up!

Grace,
Brian

Weekend Highlights

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Even though I woke up Thursday morning with a bit of a sore throat that would later turn in to more of a real sore throat, I wouldn’t let that ruin the weekend. It was a great weekend at the Aaby home.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Friday: Did some good prep work for the EXPOSED conference (btw, today is the deadline for early bird pricing). I had a great interview with a police officer who goes undercover online through MySpace and Facebook (I’ll talk about this at the conference). Took Halle to her soccer practice and Elisabeth and I caught up on a few shows we had on our DVR (we love the Amazing Race).

Saturday: Elisabeth did a few consignment sales as I spent the morning with the kids at home.  Then we did a family outing to Chipotle for lunch and then off to Halle’s Soccer game (where we discovered Will is a natural).  I multi-tasked and got some Youthmark postcards prepped for delivery (I’ll post about this mailing soon).  We got home in time to watch the UW/ND refs give the game back to Notre Dame.  Halle made her biking debut on the Soos Creek trail, she and I rode a little over 2 miles (which I was giddy to do because I hadn’t ridden in a couple days because of my sore throat). On Saturday night we were able to watch the second half of the Amazing Race premier from the previous week.

Sunday: The moment we’ve been waiting for for many, many months (but nearly as long as the long-term members of Faith Baptist). “A New Day At Faith” began yesterday.  The new Lead Pastor was installed at Faith.  I look forward to seeing what happens at Faith and the way God uses the leadership team with a new team member.  The morning was very festive, complete with donuts and coffee prior to the service (because people were arriving early for the “all church” service), extended time of worship through song (started 15 minutes prior to the service), a message from the heart from Pastor John (did some foundational vision casting, which very much included the idea of “change” so that we’re reaching the next generation) and a lunch in the courtyard after (which was fun for us to catch up with some friends who are checking out Faith).

After Church I was able to get back on my bike for my real ride around the Lake Youngs Reservoir (about 12 miles) and then another ride with Halle on the Soos Creek Trail.  We made a great connection with a neighbor (this has been a REAL answer to prayer, I have a burden to get to know our neighborhood). In the evening I started the major re-shifting to create an office space for Youthmark at our house.  Though I don’t really “office” at home, the piles were starting to add up and we found ourselves in need of some office space so that the piles have a place to be organized!

As I reflect is was a fairly uneventful weekend (there wasn’t any “major” event), but it was a weekend that I cherished!  Praising God for time with my family and the tasks we were able to complete!

Grace,
Brian

You Could Help!

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

Next Saturday, October 10, 2009 I will speaking at an event entitled, EXPOSED. You might be able to help me with some of the content for this seminar geared toward helping parents, teachers and even teens become more knowledgeable about Teens & Tech.

So, if you are a teen or young adult who is pretty savvy on the net, please consider a way you might be able to help and contact me at my email (brian at youthmark dot com).

There are three ways that jump out at me as ways you may be able to contribute before, during and after the event.

  1. Written testimonies (things you have encountered or know about on the net, texts, gaming, etc.) that would help others become more knowledgeable in thesse areas.  These can be positives and negatives.
  2. You may be willing to be part of a small panel, for a Q&A time during the seminar.
  3. You may be willing to shoot a video testimony of things you have encountered (we’d do this Tuesday or Wednesday somewhere in the Valley to make it do able for anyone in the greater Seattle area, but specifically all of us on the south end).

Some of the things that could prime-the-pump to get your thoughts moving…

What do adults not know about the Internet and Technology that they should know?

What would your social life look like without the Internet or your cell?

These stories should be specific to any of the following:

Email, Instant Messaging, Gaming, Live Chats, Facebook, MySpace, Texting/Sexting, blogs, online predators/stalking, Internet Bullying & Harassment, etc.

If you are interested in helping please do let me know (I’d prefer you respond via email).  The main seminar is from 1:00-4:00 PM next Saturday, however there is training seminar for the Family Academy teachers from 10:00 to Noon, so there are options for two different times to help.

If nothing else, could I solicit your prayers for this event and to help those in need gain exposure in these areas?

Grace,
Brian