Though most won’t be reading this until Friday, I am meeting my Thursday deadline for a Three-For-Thursday still by writing at 10:30pm.
For this “3f0r,” I am excited to give you three introductions. Some folk I’m excited for you to meet in terms of Youthmark related stuff! So, please join me in praising God for the people he has lined up for me to be in ministry with… I give you three introductions…
Ricky Judd–Youthmark Lad. Ricky is one of my former students in youth group and small group. He is a 21 (well, technically a few days away) year-old young man who I’ve had the privilege of knowing for about the last seven years. Ricky has been volunteering with Youthmark the last couple years, especially at the Spring Retreats. I am sure his volunteer role will continue for many of our events, but in the mean time, he is a full-time student and also volunteers his time at his new church (New Community)–he works with the senior high students there. Ricky is coming onboard for some part-time seasonal work right now. He is helping Buzz Huget with a lot of our foll0w-up calls and data-entry work for our marketing. Though his “paid” vocational work with Youthmark may not be long-term and may ebb-and-flow, he’ll always be a “staffer” in my book! Welcome aboard Ricky!
The Admission–Worship Band. A couple years ago I had the privilege of meeting Joe Poppino. Joe was the guest worship-leader at a camp at which I was the guest speaker. We hit it off right away. Joe became the worship leader for Youthmark that spring (our first). Last year Joe and I partnered together again for our “Spring Tour” with Youthmark (Spring Retreats). Only last year we stepped it up a notch… Joe has an album! So now, Joe is bigtime! He’s a singer/songwriter/recording artist and Worship Leader/Pastor. Well, he’s a glutton for punishment and decided he wanted to continue to partner with Youthmark, only with a twist. Joe and I both have a passion to pour into the next generation. I love seeing the “lightbulb” moments in the life of a student. Many of the Youth Pastors I get to interact with and help are quite-a-bit younger than me. Likewise, Joe loves influencing younger folk and in this instance, musicians. So, Joe is going to be my worship leader at our retreats, but he will also be mentoring a new band; helping them launch into this next venture in their lives. So, I bring to you The Admission! I’ve had the honor of knowing a couple of these guys the last many years as well. It’s been fun to see Frankie and Caleb grow up to be young men. I look forward to getting to know James and Justin a lot better as well. These guys are a legitimate band, have their own stuff but want to really glorify the Lord with the influence He may give to them. As they write new stuff for The Admission they’ll also be doing some gigs that are worship sets as well. Can’t wait to see God use them for worship in some settings and evangelism (with their other stuff) in other venues! Can’t wait to see Joe Poppino with The Admission on our Spring Tour!
Alon Banks–San Diego County. Alon Banks (yep, correct spelling), is a tall man. Taller than me. Dang it. Anyway, Alon is a great guy, a man with great missions experience (worked for 11 years with Amor Ministries–they do Mexico missions) and is currently working with the National Network of Youth Ministries. He’s adding the role with Youthmark as our San Diego County rep. Similar to Kirk Petersen’s role with Youthmark in Oregon and SW WA, Alon is responsible for reaching out to and nurturing the relationships with the Youth Pastors and ministries in his territory. Our hope is to get as many churches connected with Youthmark and living out Mission51 as we can! Because Alon has much experience in the Youth and Youth Mission field I am really excited about how he will influence our current structure and set-up. He’s a good thinker and a lot of fun to be around! I look forward to seeing what it’s like to have someone on the ground in SoCal. Pray for him as he begins these relationships with YP’s, his work with NNYM and continues to be a great dad (two kids) and husband. Welcome on board Alon!
Full speed ahead! Appreciate the prayers for Youthmark. We need them!
Grace,
Brian
BRIANAABY.COM 