Category Travel

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Pray21 The Re-Release!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

This is very, very exciting!

Youthmark has moved into the Publishing Realm!

Over the last few years I’ve been honored to be published by Spire-Resources, well, as of tonight, Youthmark officially moved into the publishing market with the official release of Pray21.

Chair drop (freebie) at the NYWC

Youthmark has given away close to 2000 copies of this book TONIGHT at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC).

As I stated earlier, this is very exciting because this title fits EXACTLY in line with my blogpost about Trusting Teens. I believe this book will do much much in our endeavor to see students lead the cause of Christ. But here’s the equation I want to introduce:

WITH > FOR

That is, WITH is greater than for.

Praying WITH Youth will change your church. Your community. Our culture.

Students are ready to lead the cause of Christ. But they need the prayers, they need the encouragement. They need the mentoring of adults. They need to be trusted to lead and the humility to be led by a trusted mentor! Prayer will fuel this movement! Student Led, Adult Mentored Ministry!

It starts by getting congregations to believe in teens enough to pray not just for, but WITH students!

Check it out at Pray21.com and get your youth group, school or club involved. Pray WITH Youth!

Grace,
Brian

Making Tents and How You Can Help!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

In prayer, by faith, we believe God is moving and using Youthmark and we’d love for you to consider this unique way of partnering (SPOILER ALERT: NO we’re not looking for you to write a support check)…

When we launched Youthmark in 2008 we had several people ask if they could support us (financially), but Elisabeth and I really wanted to explore what it would look like to do Youthmark as a ministry/business. Though Youthmark is certainly missional, we didn’t see ourselves as vocational missionaries. We simply asked for those making the offers to support other missions/ministries but implored them to pray for us!

Well, four plus years in and though we’re making changes, we’re still saying the same thing! We are moving toward producing other resources for the student ministry field. By faith we believe this is what God has called us to do, but it is risky to leave the “known” and explore the unknown.

As we continue to “make tents” (1 Cor. 18:1-3), we are confident that God will continue to provide for us. Besides creating resources, I believe there is one other arena that God will use to provide for us that also fits within my gift and passion set: Teaching. Training. Inspiring.

I love speaking, training and inspiring people for a life of mission here, there and anywhere. I believe it is my calling to train people (students, leaders, parents, etc.) in everyday opportunities we have to be used for the cause of Christ (Mission51).

If you are at a church, school or parachurch and looking for someone to come in speak and/or help create an event and experience where training and inspiration can be provided I’d love for you to consider partnering with me/us! I “play well with others” in that I can simply be a speaker/trainer for you, but I REALLY love the entire process where we dream, scheme, plot, plan and especially pray for the right direction for these events!

I said “us” above, because the under-discovered talent in the Aaby family is Elisabeth. She is such a gifted speaker, I’d love to see God use her to bless your ministries as well… Elisabeth is at her best speaking to women (youth, young adults, moms and at women Bible studies, etc.).

You can click here to see what sort of events I typically speak at and specifically what things have been on the calendar in 2012.

We prayerfully consider all opportunities and simply hope the asking party has done the same as they consider a budget for travel and honorarium. We want to work with our partners to develop a budget that honors God and each other!

Shoot me an email (brian at youthmark dot com), Tweet, Facebook message or even comment your interest and I’ll be happy to follow up with you. We can talk dates, times, desires, etc. as we begin the conversation!

We’d love your prayers as we make this transition in our lives and as God develops these new partnerships!

Grace,
Brian

Super Exciting BIG Youthmark Announcement!

Brian Aaby 4 Comments

Our little organization which has a BIG vision for Mission51 just got a MAJOR boost!

As I have talked about for the last few months and hinted at in a few blog posts, Youthmark has been in discussions with a few organizations about expanding the Mission51 movement!

One way we will see this take place is through our strategic partnership with Youth Missions International (YMI). This alliance will enable Youthmark and YMI to:

  • Equip more people for Mission51
  • Better train for specific locations
  • Send to more places (domestic and international)
  • Increase customer service
  • Offer the most affordable package for missions that include before, during trip and post Mission Venture materials

For those who have experienced a Youthmark Mission Venture you will only experience an increase in what you have received for the same price (in fact, in some cases, for less cost).

In this partnership Youthmark gets to do what we do best: train, equip, send and return participants for Mission51 – the 51 weeks of mission back home!

Likewise, YMI gets to excel all the more in what they are known for: delivering custom-made domestic missions and fantastic YMI hosted mission trips to international destinations.

In this arrangement we will now be able to send church groups and individuals  on mission trips! EVERY participant gets the Youthmark (Mission51) training and follow-through while being ushered through the on-trip experience by the esteemed YMI!

The Short List of What’s Included:

  • Choice of trips on 5 different continents or any of the 50 states
  • Customized aspects for every Mission Venture
  • Personal consultant for the entire process
  • Complete Leaders Guide (the A to Z of missions)
  • Complete 10 week curriculum for the entire students ministries (not just mission team)
  • Mission Prep Workbook for every person going on the trip
  • Mission51 Training Retreat
  • Devotional for each participant on the mission venture
  • Guided Study for family members at home
  • Follow-up book to launch your study and application for after the Mission Venture

Domestic trips are offered for as little as $289-$349 (and include ALL of the above). Check out the BUILD YOUR TRIP tab at YMI and get the ball rolling! Don’t hesitate to call us at Youthmark, 800.455.1450 if you have questions or call YMI to talk about any specifics as well. YMI: (866) 487-7563!

Spread the word to others. Pray for this partnership and join in by pre-registering a group or individual now!

Can’t wait to see how God uses this for his glory!

Grace,
Brian

Big News For This Little Organization

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24… 40… 53…

…These numbers likely don’t mean much to the readership, but they were quite startling to me, especially last year when that 53 hit. These numbers represent the number of churches/mission teams Youthmark engaged for the purpose of training and missions in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Though the seed was planted in my mind after the summer of 2010, somewhere around the new year (2012), I began to aggressively change the way I viewed the future of Youthmark. As I have stated in a previous blogpost, it was never my intention for Youthmark to be a Short Term Mission (STM) Organization. My own core conviction is that the entire field of Student Ministry should be our focus. I want to see students, staff, parents and the church improve the way we are ministering to one another and the needs around us. Mission51 (the 51 weeks outside the mission trip) is my passion!

Linking w/other orgs will enhance M:51!

Instead of focussing on the short-term mission, I began to focus on long-term partnerships with those who would be able to carry the load of managing mission trips so that we (at Youthmark) can be focussed on providing materials, strategies, consulting, speaking, etc. for the 51 weeks outside of the mission trip. Even with much of my time focussed outside of the “trip” God still blessed us with a wonderful spring and summer for Youthmark Mission Ventures (close to 50 churches/organizations engaged again).

With that as the backdrop, there are three or four STM organizations who are in discussions with Youthmark to partner with us at some level so that their mission trips can be more than just a trip and begin to really engage participants to be on mission the other 51 weeks of the year as well.

In my next post I’ll introduce you to our first official partner! I believe this partnership will lead to:

  1. More options for churches and students in the area of mission trips (domestic and international).
  2. Better  (specific trip) training for all engaged in STM’s.
  3. More tools/training options for Mission51 (ahh yeah, you’ve only seen the beginning)!
  4. More excitement (and more equipped missionaries) for the 51 weeks outside of the mission trip!

Though the concept is a couple years old, I truly believe Mission51 “the movement” is about to launch!

Stay tuned…

Grace,
Brian

 

Preparing To Imprint

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

I just returned from a fantastic four day trip to Arizona, where I teamed with friend, Timothy Eldred, to train Scottsdale Christian Academy students and staff for more than a mission! In fact, it was the first of a couple beta-tests for the upcoming launch of a movement we are anticipating entitled,  Imprint the Planet.

Scottsdale Christian High School is once again contracting with Youthmark for their missions program and we’re thrilled to help them with their 13-15 mission ventures for 2013, but even more exciting to me is seeing students (and staff) fired up to make a difference not just there but here as well.

This week we were able to see students STEP out in faith, RISK in relationship and return to their campus, club, community and churches prepared to LEAD together! I can’t wait to take the next steps for ITP with a local church retreat in a few weeks!

I am praising God for the many who risked in huge ways by seeking help in areas of brokenness as they began to understand grace in a new or renewed way. I’m pumped about seeing several students take leaps of faith in just a short 3-day time period. In addition I am thankful for the adults/teachers who honestly want to see Student Led, Adult Mentored (SLAM) take place!

Please pray for SCA and my friend Kevin Meyers (Teacher/Spiritual Life Director at SCA) as students return for their 2012-2013 school year and for the many who will take serious the call to Imprint the Planet! 

As Imprint the Planet goes through a few adjustments before it officially launches (soon), my prayer is that God would prepare this generation of students/young adults to be unleashed to use their gifts, skills, minds, relationships and voices to make an eternal Imprint on this planet– all for God’s glory!

Keep up with us at @imprintplanet (twitter) and here on Facebook to get the updates and news first!

Grace,
Brian

Addition links on Twitter you should consider:

@brianaaby and @timothyeldred

 

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

Partnerships Expanding… You Can Join!

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

As many of you know I have been involved with a start-up Bible School (geared toward the “gap year” between High School and College/Career or between Community College and University or between University and Life). It’s been an exciting year with this first class out in Ravensdale, WA (Southeast of Seattle).

Besides the growing relationships (I’ve really enjoyed the shepherding aspect of my “consultant” role) and am quite excited about taking these students on a culminating mission project (we have two trips going out simultaneously, one to Bithlo, FL and the other to Costa Rica). I invite you to read what I posted today on the Youthmark Blog about this.

We’d love your prayer support, the partnership needs to grow in order to accomplish this great mission!

Here is the post:

Hey friends and family!

Brian here on behalf of the CR team from Adelphia!  We are just about 2 months away from our adventure that will take us to Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Having been to this region of Costa Rica, I can tell you that our team will be blown away by the beauty of God’s creation and humbled by the spirit of the Tico’s (native inhabitant of Costa Rica).

While serving in Costa Rica our team will likely have two or three main purposes each day. We’ll likely spend half a day in a public school (teaching english), half a day distrubiting Bibles and half a day doing a special project (like painting a school or community).

Before you get after me for my poor math– you can’t have three “halves”– we will do two of those three each day and rotate through so that our days are split up nicely.

In addition to these multi-hour projects, we’ll spend time visiting a couple local churches and will be able to play soccer against some much-better-than-us Latin American soccer (football) players!

Your support is needed! We are desparate to see the Holy Spirit move in Costa Rica. The Bible distribution project is an incredible undertaking. Teaming with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Changing Lives in Costa Rica (CLICR), we are on the front edge of a 94,000 Bible distribution effort. Each Bible represents the approximate number of homes in Guanacaste (each home representing about 6-7 persons). Thus far, the effort has seen about 20,000 Bible distributed. The stories are amazing, not only are Bibles being distrubuted, but teams are sharing (often) an hour of their time and the Gospel with these families. Many have trusted in Christ.

Our American mindset and door-to-door salesman fears need to be prayed away; this is simply not the case in Guanacaste. Tico’s there are genuninely happy that we’ve come all the way from the US to share life with them. They are happy to hear about Jesus. Our prayer is that we have the opportunity to not just bless them with the Word of God, but trust that the Spirit of God will lead them to trust in Christ!

  • Will you pray with us?
  • Can you give towards this? (Each Bible distributed carries about $3-$4 actual cost to it–including shipping).

If you can give ANYTHING towards this Adelphia Bible School trip (Youthmark is leading), please send a tax-deductible check written to Adelphia Bible School.

Send to:

Brian Aaby

ATTN: Costa Rica Team

Box 58926

Seattle WA 98138

These funds will help get the team of 10 to CR and will cover costs for food, Bible Distribution and projects!

Thanks so much! Keep the prayers coming!

Grace,
Brian

Get In The Game

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

As we approached the church for a youth leader lunch I remember being greeted by a guy who seemed somewhat familiar, maybe I’d seen him at some other regional gathering? He pointed us in the right direction and I thought it was nice that either the organization or the church was nice enough to send out a greeter to make sure we all knew where we were going.

After about 30 minutes of sharing lunch with my Seattle-area youth leading friends the greeter from outside popped up and introduced himself as Greg Stier, the President of Dare2Share (the organization hosting the lunch and training).

Flash forward about seven or eight years and I’ll tell you that the greeter/speaker Greg Stier I remember from that day is the same Greg today; furthermore the organization he leads, operates with the same humility he demonstrates by being the door-greeter at their training events.

I was in Florida all of this last week, I had several meetings with other organizations and was scouting for a few mission trips Youthmark has coming this spring and summer. Knowing that I was going to be in town I decided to double up and check out the Gameday tour for Dare2Share. Arrangements were made for me to not only attend but to serve behind the scenes for D2S. From set-up to tear-down, I’ll have you know that the team of employees, talent, speakers and volunteers were there for one-reason: to serve teens, leaders and one another so that the gospel is heard, taught, trained and sent!

Something we introduced last year through Youthmark, called “Speed Witnessing” was adopted by D2S as “Speed Training” for this years tour. And though I was excited to see this, I can tell you any “proud” moment I had for that was morphed by the pride I felt for the body of Christ serving together to put on a training conference that was so rich in content, so practical in application and 100% focused on Jesus and the good news he gives by grace alone through faith.

It truly was an honor to partner with Greg, Zane, Prop, Brenton Brown (and band) and scores of “others” that were never seen. From security to finance, from tech to talent, there was absolutely no pretentiousness or rank. Humility, grace and a sense of purpose permeated all that was done. All the parts were needed and though many in the crowd see the “personalities,” the personalities see “team.”

If you are a Youth Leader within a days drive of one of the remaining D2S conferences this year, you really ought to consider bringing your group to the event. And if you’re a Dare2Share alumni from the last couple of years, check out their new Lead The Cause University this summer. I am super pumped about this because my good friends, Everfound are leading worship at LTCU and then next year for the 2013 “Follow” tour by D2S. So fun to see my friends partner together in ministry (and selfishly, I am excited, because Dare2Share is coming back to Seattle for Follow).

Greg, thanks for being courageous in the faith, serving teens, youth leaders and the kingdom through humble and relentless leadership and thank you for taking the time with every student or adult who wanted to talk… those small times of “greeting” really do make a difference!

Grace,

Brian

Conferences, Connections, Churches and Chapels…

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Like any good Pastor I am sticking with a single letter theme for this post. The last week of my life has been bombarded by Christians of every kind, here is a quick review of my Thursday to Thursday and all the different C’s I was able to experience.

Conference: I attended the National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC) by Youth Specialties in San Diego. I would guesstimate that I have been to 10 different NYWC’s in my life and this one was certainly one of the best. A few of the things that stood out to me and what made it so sweet from my perspective:

  • Lower cost: More “teams” participated because YS made it more affordable.
  • Diverse, but less “controversial” speakers: All who spoke appeared humble and weren’t looking to just push the envelope but actually deliver a message that would equip, encourage and spur on those who are working with youth.
  • Friendship: I was personally blessed by growing deeper in conversation with many across the nation that I can call “friend.” I appreciated spending time with the likes of Eric, Lars, Mark, Jeremy, Sean, Tim, Mindi, Jeff (two of them), Jim, Len, EJ, Ryan and several others that I am certainly forgetting right now.
  • Partnerships: It is really fun to dream together as to “what can be” when people with a kingdom mindset gather. I look forward to seeing how Youthmark may partner with others who are passionate about seeing lost people trust in Christ!

Connections: Alon Banks (Youthmark and National Network) and I drove north on Sunday evening to meet with Hope Partners International on Sunday Night and Monday  (all day). We are so excited about what HPI is doing and enjoyed talking through the next steps of our partnership with them. It will be amazing to see what God does as prayers are lifted, financial constraints are shattered and the harvest workers are unleashed on some impoverished areas!

I was blessed to have Elisabeth fly down to SoCal on Monday and spend Tuesday and Wednesday with her talking to Spire Resources (our publisher) about several projects! I am so proud of my wife and love partnering with her on some new endeavors!

Church: On Tuesday I was able to meet with a large church in Southern California and do a brief consult about some student ministry visioning! It was a great meeting! I firmly believe this church “gets it” and doesn’t want to entertain students, but wants to see their students equipped to reach out with the gospel!

Chapels: On Wednesday afternoon I took a quick flight over to Phoenix to speak on Thursday at Scottsdale Christian Academy. SCA is our first Christian School partnership for Youthmark. This is the second time I have spoken for this school (I spoke at a retreat with them in August). I enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and look forward to seeing Scottsdale transformed through these students and staff!

My 5th C I’d like to add is the word CRAZY. Now that I have returned, I immediately turn around and speak three times at MissionsFest Seattle this weekend and end the weekend by welcoming in the initial Adelphia Bible School Class! I’ll be speaking twice at orientation on Sunday! Great stuff, but a crazy schedule!

It is so good to be back with my family, though it was just a week (my longest trip in a long-long time) it felt like way longer! So good to love on my family! Speaking of family, I have to conclude this post, Will and I have an appointment to wrestle!

Grace,

Brian

LIFT- Concert :: Worship :: Training in PDX!

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Ahhh yeah! It was highly successful in the greater Seattle area, so why not give it a go in Portland? Spread the word for this great one-evening training event that includes great worship and a kickin’ concert with Everfound! LIFT is back!

If you went to the Seattle event, be sure to pass the word on to anyone from Centralia (North) to Eugene (South). We’d love to see Christ LIFTed in Portland with groups from all around! Mission51 is the key, we want people sharing the gospel not just on the one-week mission, but the 51 weeks beyond the week long experience.

Check out the Facebook event page and get others invited to the Sunday, October 16, 6pm LIFT event!

Grace,
Brian