I originally posted this on the Youthmark blog; feel free to visit there for easy access to all of our team blogs...

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As one church (Faith, Costa Rica) completed their mission trip, 10 other churches were launching theirs (We have 11 places being served this week)!

On Friday, June 24, two churches (Westwood Baptist and Highline Christian) joined Youthmark’s Kirk Petersen in Rathdrum, Idaho for a Youthmark “Launch.” This 15 hour Pep Rally of sorts provides us the opportunity to do some last minute training (reminders of what we’ve practiced through the spring) and gives us the chance to rally the troops as they head into a week of service and evangelism in a specific region.  Kirk reports that the two churches did very well and that they took advantage of every opportunity to soak in some last minute teaching and practice.

Westwood Baptist (Olympia, WA) will be serving in two communities in Alberta Canada.

Highline Christian (Burien, WA) is serving in Plains, Montana.

Simultaneously to the Idaho launch, I (Brian) had the privilege of leading a launch down south in Redding, California for four other churches joining us for the launch. We worshipped really well together (thanks Wes, Joshua and Caleb) as we were hosted by Westside Church of Redding (a Youthmark church that is going on a trip late in the summer). This group of approximately 65 had a great time being stretched as they had to get out of their comfort zone right away through the games and activities we provide during the launch.

Pine Valley Community Church (Pine Valley, CA) is headed to Bangor, CA.

Westminster Presbyterian (Escondido) is headed to Fort Jones, CA (Scott Valley).

Joining Westminster Pres in Scott Valley is Warren Baptist (Warren, OR).

Canby Alliance (Canby, OR) is serving in French Gulch, CA.

In addition to these churches who participated in a launch we have three other churches out this week. Because of locations and such, these teams didn’t do our launches, but we trust that they are off to a great start.

Elim Evangelical Free (Puyallup, WA) is serving this week in Rockaway Beach, OR.

Bookcliff Baptist (Grand Junction, CO) is serving in an inner-city/suburb hybrid model mission in Burbank and Castaic, CA.

Cornerstone* (Covington, WA) is serving in the eastern part of their state, in Sprangle, WA.

Northwest Bible Church* (Spring, TX) is serving in both Kamiah and Riggins, ID.

One really cool side-note: Northwest Bible of Texas is a third-year Youthmark team, they have adopted Riggins and Kamiah as “their towns” and the after serving in both places last year (and all three years to Riggins) they have sent an intern for the entire summer to Riggins. I invite you to pray for Stephen Curto and follow his blog here. (it’s been a great journey for his thus far, this week is going to be such an encouragement to him).

As always, I invite you to go to the individual team blogs and pray through the listed requests. It’s so exciting to see what God does through prayer!

Grace,

Brian

*Churches that trained through Youthmark, but already had chosen location.