Month June 2012

The Number Four

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

Taking a four month sabbatical from blogging certainly did nothing to make my life slow-down, in fact, over the last four months there have been some really great things that have taken place. So, in celebration of the number four, I give you the Top 4 for the Last Four (months).

#4 Costa Rica Mission Trip

Costa Rica kids!

In April I was able to lead a group of eight college-age students to Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This Youthmark Mission is one-0f-a-kind. Distributing Bibles, speaking in schools and reaching out to entire communities where the Gospel had not been heard was such a blessing!

Joe and Hilary lead at the Portland M:51 Training

#3: Mission51 Retreats

This year’s LIFE Backwards theme will be a blog post in itself. But the “Six City Tour” was simply amazing. Many said “our best yet.” Coincidentally it was our fourth year of offering these things as well! As Youthmark continues to grow, morph and develop, we hope to teach many to do LIFE Backwards!

#2 Consulting & Coaching

w/ Grilled and Regular onions of course!

One of the areas of ministry that brings me life is the area of coaching and consulting. I am fortunate to be doing this on an informal basis with several but also in an official (contracted) capacity as well. One such “official” capacity is with Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, CA. I absolutely love the people there and have bonded well with their staff! A side benefit, of course, to traveling to SoCal is the frequent stops at In-N-Out!

#1: The Family!

The thing that brings me the most joy and the most life is time with my family! Over the last four months I’ve gotten to have several family outings, daddy-daughter dates & daddy-dude outings (can’t call it a “date”). Now, if Elisabeth and I could only find some more time (and free baby sitting… hint hint) for some more Mommy-Daddy Dates!

My hope is the next four months are just as much of a blessing as the last four!

Grace,
Brian

What’s Up With Youthmark?

Brian Aaby 8 Comments

The transformation started a couple years ago, roughly two years into our adventure that we call, Youthmark.  At that time I  knew already that the organization that I had founded was going to look dramatically different than it did then. I loved what I was doing and we were already experiencing a nice season of growth but I knew that increase was not going to be sustainable if something didn’t give. I knew steps would need to be taken for Youthmark to evolve and for it to remain manageable. I just didn’t know which steps to take. So we grew…

  • 24 teams our first year.
  • 40 teams our second year.
  • 53 churches partnered with us last year.

It was never my intention for Youthmark to be a Short Term Missions organization. I knew I wanted STMs to be part of what we did, but it was becoming everything that we were doing.

My heart and my passion has always been  the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip. I LOVE coaching leaders to be shepherds all the time. A mission trip is typically just one week, but it can/should be one-part culmination of the year and one-part catalyst for what is ahead. But the reality is most Youth Pastors are still doing mission trips because of the trip itself. Whether they go with a turn-key organization (sign-up/show-up and everything is led by org) do a trip on their own (typically go to a church-supported missionary) or something in between, very few were/are doing anything in the area of preparation and follow through.

This is where I feel Youthmark can and should have the biggest influence in the area of short-term missions. But with growth and demand I saw the ministry was becoming more and more about managing trips and less about vision casting, training, inspiring and follow-through. Simply because of demand, I was spending more of my own time on “i” dotting and “t” crossing of trips and less time on Mission51.

I believe the time is now! Change is in the air. As an organization we are moving forward within our area of passion. This re-focus will include:

  • Partnerships with other STM organizations
  • Expanded resource catalog in product, resources and services
  • More time in area of personal passion/giftedness!

I’m stoked about what is ahead and can’t wait to share more on this blog! Your prayers are appreciated as much groundwork has already been done but there is much more ahead!

Grace,

Brian

Four-Month Blog Sabbatical

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

In March of 1995, after a 17 month experiment with professional baseball, Michael Jordan gave a two-word press release:

“I’m back.”

Well, I’m no Michael Jordan. I didn’t try professional baseball, I’m not re-upping with the Bulls, but I do want to make the same statement:

“I’m back.”

Four months ago (today) I posted my last blog post. I didn’t know then that it would be my last for a long time, but things were crazy busy, I had taken on too much and I began to realize that in some ways I was in survival mode. Something had to give. My blog was quickly one of the things that was given.

After some time I was ready to write again, but instead of immediately blogging I decided to re-focus and repurpose. Over the next few weeks I am repurposing the blog. I’ll begin to explain the process a bit in my next post.

So for now, if there is anyone out there still reading, still subscribed to the RSS or anyone who has clicked on the link to come check out what this dude has been up to, stay tuned:

“I’m back,” and it’s good to be here.

Grace,
Brian