We have run into a glitch with the Youthmark.com blogs right now, so if you went there to check, go back, I’ll update here when I know it is back up and running, hopefully a MINOR glitch. The latest text from Chehalis is that all is going very well, day 4 of VBS was great and the team will get to do some sight-seeing in Great Falls this afternoon.
Grace,
Brian
UPDATE (Noon, Thursday): Fixed, so go check them out again: Youthmark Mission Venture Blogs.
A couple weeks ago I have a quick-stint travel opportunity I could not pass up! I flew in to Reno and rented a car for the 75 minute drive to Graeagle, CA (Quincy is the only town that anyone would recognize in that area if you’re not from around there).
I was invited to share at the Summer Connection for the Pastors/Missionaries (and their families) of Village Missions SW District. The 20-or-so families represented many churches from CA, AZ and NV. This was a Godsend opportunity for me. For years I have partnered with this fantastic organization on mission trips. They do such a great job of establishing or re-establishing churches in rural communities.
Because I personally like to scout each of the places we will be sending teams (I value the personal relationship and it builds trust between the church and the organization) I end up spending quite-a-bit of time on the road. As Youthmark expands this demand could very easily become overwhelming and really impossible. So, this was a Godsend in that in just a few days I was able to touch base and build relationship with about 15 Pastors interested in having a YMV come to their community! Because of the relationship, I won’t have to travel to these towns to establish the relationship! Praise God for His provision!
The true blessing was the relational time I had with these friends. Though I made many new friends, I was able to spend extended time with some old friends as well! I ran into the Primer’s (who now serve in CA, but were in Plummer ID when I sent a team there in 2000), the Rivers (we are sending a team to French Gulch this summer) and my good friends, the Murrells (from Pine Valley, CA). The Murrells have become very good friends through the years, I have visited them a few times since leading a team in PV a couple years ago.
I was personally blessed to have spent an afternoon with just the Murrells on a scenic drive to a lake and to be led in worship by Josh and Caleb!
I’m praising God for the people he has brought into my life all over the country! And am blessed to partner with such a great organization like VM!
Grace,
Brian
Would love for you to come over here and check this out!
Grace,
Brian
First, if you would like to be on our prayer list (via email) shoot me an email and I’ll add you to the list (I send stuff out about every 6 weeks or so).
Just because I am so jazzed about this prayer opportunity I am copying and pasting the entire letter I just sent here:
Youthmark Prayer Partners!
It is with great anticipation I write this email. In about five hours we’ll begin our “Launch” of our first Youthmark Mission Venture team.
As I type from Starbucks in Ritzville, WA (about an hour from Spokane) I have been praying for the people of Simms, MT and surrounding towns (the recipient area of this trip). I have prayed for the students and leaders from First Baptist Church of Chehalis (the first group heading out). Now, I would like to challenge all of you to become “prayer partners extraordinaire!”
How exciting would it be for every group this summer to have scores of people they don’t even know praying for them, commenting them (on the blog) and waiting with them to see the Lord answer their specific requests? I challenge each of us to do just that.
It is simple too!
Go to this site: http://youthmark.com/blogs.php
This first week you’ll want to scroll down to First Baptist Church of Chehalis and click on their blog. At the bottom of each post you can see there is a place to add/view comments. Feel free to do just that!
Having been on many of these I have NEVER seen the Lord answer specific prayers in quite the same way. I’m going to try to get the dates listed for each of the churches on the website as well so you know which ones are out on that given week as well. But for this week, it’s First Baptist Chehalis.
I encourage you to read through all the blogs, but specifically check out the blogs of each of the following as they’ll head out next week:
Avondale Bible
Calvary Chapel South
RiverRidge Cov’t
Lake Sawyer Christian
Snohomish Free Methodist
NW Bible
Last, you’ll see on the blog that we have released the HomeBase Guided Study to others outside of the Mission, don’t hesitate to pick one up for yourself! You can study the same things the Mission teams are studying and like the parents of these missionaries, you can live out your mission at home! (And you can pick up MERGE at the same time, a 112 page Guided Study of James I just completed).
Now, head to the blogs and start praying specifically for FBC (and all the other teams)!
Grace,
Brian
Last night marked the end of our year at Kentridge Young Life. I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to serve this year with a group of teens who are hungry for life. So many of them remind me of me when I was their age. They are seekers, only many don’t know what they are seeking.
They come seeking any (or all) of the following: fame, fortune, popularity, belonging, escape, religion, love, laughter, outlet, understanding, stability, something different, friendship, comfort, him, her, help, and God.
Though the list is not complete, because they do come seeking more than what I had listed, many come with a heart that is being worked on by the Holy Spirit. This is what is so exciting to me. Every-single student who walks through the doors of Young Life is going to be presented the opportunity to hear about Jesus. We need to be faithful in building the relationship and share the Good News, but He is the one who is faithful in preparing the heart for His message!
Please pray for me as I prepare to go with 50 (most of whom do NOT know Jesus) high school students to camp this summer. And while you’re at it, praise God for this opportunity He has given me as well. Being involved with YL this year is going to have direct influence on the writing and training materials I write for Christian students as we prepare them for future lifestyle evangelism opportunities!
Grace,
Brian
By faith, we are trusting God to provide the way for me to go to camp with these students (about $500), if God has placed it on your heart to give to YL for this cause, please comment or email me and I’ll let you know how you can help (brian@youthmark.com). Thanks for your prayers!
If you’re a facebooker (one who does facebook), I have just added a Youthmark page to Facebook and think you should become a “Fan.” I mentioned on my latest “tweet” (what you call a post on Twitter) that now that I have accounts on twitter and Facebook and have a Youthmark page, I can now have “friends” (fb) “followers” (twitter) and “fans” (fb). I think we should get one of these sites to create a new category, “enemies,” that would make things VERY interesting!
So, come be a fan of Youthmark on facebook, just sign in and then search “youthmark” and you’ll find us!
Grace,
Brian
I firmly believe in the power of prayer. In my 19 years of being a Christian the places I have seen the power at work the most has been in and through short term mission trips. At Youthmark we have believed in it enough to invest in creating blog-software on our site so that each YMV team could have their own blog to get people praying for the specifics of their training, mission and follow-thru.
Here’s where you come in! Would you be willing to adopt a team or two (or more). Don’t hesitate to comment on this blog with the teams you’ll be praying for. I have encouraged all of the Youth Pastors to keep up with their blog, though this is not a requirement, so some of you prayer saints will be praying with more detail than others. Thank you for your faithfulness. To access the blogs of each of the teams go to this site. I have my Youthmark blog there as well.
Here are the teams and a few of the details. Let the adoptions begin! (Don’t hesitate from picking teams that others have already picked, we want as many as possible praying… sit back, pray and you’ll be amazed at how detailed His answers are)! Spread the word!
(you can actually click on any of these churches and it will take you directly to their blog)
Avondale Bible Church Woodinville, WA (headed to Plains, MT, June 26 to July 5)
Burien Free Methodist Burien, WA (headed to Bridge City, TX, July 10-19)
Calvary Chapel South Kent, WA (headed to Crouch, ID, June 26 to July 5)
Edgewood Baptist Church Edmonds, WA (headed to Shasta, CA, July 17 to 26)
Faith Baptist Church Kent, WA (headed to Scott Valley, Lewiston and French Gulch, CA July 17-26)
First Baptist Church Chehalis, WA (headed to Simms, MT, June 19-28)
Grace Church West Seattle, WA (headed to Vinton, LA, July 10-19)
Living Hope Christian Fellowship Bothell, WA (headed to Anahola, HI, July 24 to Aug. 3)
Living Hope Christian Fellowship Renton, WA (headed to Lincoln, MT, Aug. 14-23)
Mountain View Church Glenwood Springs, CO (headed to Kittredge, CO, Aug 1-8)
Northwest Bible Church Spring, TX (headed to Riggins, ID, June 26 to July 5)
Pulpit Rock Church Colorado Springs, CO (headed to Kinder, LA, July 9-19)
River Ridge Covenant Church Lacey, WA (headed to Council, ID, June 26 to July 5)
Rose Hill Presbyterian Church Kirkland, WA (headed to Lolo, MT, Aug. 14-23)
Snohomish Free Methodist Church Snohomish, WA (headed to Superior, MT, June 26 to July 5)
Sound Life Church Tacoma, WA (headed to Thompson Falls, MT, Aug. 14-23)
Tabernacle Baptist Church Shoreline, WA (headed to Lincoln, MT, Aug. 14-23)
Taproot Church Des Moines, WA (headed to Lakehead, CA, July 17-26)
The Gathering Colorado Springs, CO (headed to Deweysville, TX, July 9-19)
Let me know the team(s) you want to adopt in the comment thread or via email (brian@youthmark.com) so we know if/when we have every team covered!
Grace,
Brian
One of the strengths of the Youthmark Mission Venture is that it is so much more than a mission trip. Besides the training materials (mission prep workbook, leaders guide, retreat, etc.) the participants and their families get blessed with additional publications.
Now you can too! (more on this in a second)
As I have posted before and now you can see for your own eyes, the books are done and about to be used.
RoadGrip is the Guided Study for the YMV participants while on their Mission Trip! The students and staff and any “adopted” student in the community will be guided in His Word during their mission week.
HomeBase is the Guided Study for the Families of the YMV participants. While the students/staff are out on the field, we’re asking the families to study the same Scriptures but are specifically challenged to live it out at home! This book is now also available to you!
Merge, which was originally entitled, 14 Ways for 14 Days has emerged as a brand-new way to come home. For years, I believe, Youth Pastors have missed the mark at bringing the teams home well. Merge contains 18 study sessions through the book of James! Rather than relying on the “Mission Trip High,” we’d like to see everyone continue their striving hard after the Lord after the trip is done–this includes the participants, families and now you! This book, especially geared for the adolescent believer, will challenge the reader to live out His instructions to us very practical ways!
Each YMV participant will receive his or her own free copy (all three publications), however, Youthmark is making the latter two books available to you, our prayer support team. In addition, Youth Pastors are encouraged to purchase Merge for the remainder of their Youth Group so the two groups (mission team and the students back home) can “merge” together to live out the Great Commandment and Great Commission together at home!
If you (the “at home reader”) would like to purchase your own copy of Merge and/or HomeBase our Publisher (Spire) has given us permission to sell these to you at a very low $5 cost per book (plus shipping if you can’t arrange for a pick up from me). The book has a list price of $9.99, you’d you’re getting it at 1/2 price!
Email us at missions@youthmark.com and let us know what you’d like and your address, then we’ll send it to you with a simple invoice at $5 (plus minor shipping cost) for each book you order. UPDATE: This half price offer is only available to Youth Pastors and the Blog Readers through the beginning the of actual mission trips (June 19, 2009), after the YMV’s begin we will only be able to offer a different discounted rate to the Youth Pastors for their team orders only.
If you are the praying type, and we know you are, I’d especially encourage you to order a copy of HomeBase and do this study along with the team you are praying for and reading about on their blog (http://youthmark.com/blogs.php).
My prayer is that the Youth Group and Church would be united in their attempt to live out the Great Commandment and Great Commission together (whether they were on the mission trip or not).
I can’t wait to see the way the Lord uses these publications in the lives of all who read; I am already looking forward to writing the 2010 editions of RoadGrip, HomeBase and Merge!
Grace,
Brian
God is great!
Thank you to all who have been praying faithfully for Youthmark, an I’d like to specifically give a thanks to those who lifted up these last requests over the weekend. The Lord answered these requests in His timing and in a way that has eased my mind!
The Writing
RoadGrip, HomeBase and Merge are all not completed, edited and off to Graphic Layout for final publishing. The quick turn-around is still a matter of prayer, but the toughest part (writing) is now complete! I will post the specifics about Merge in my next post.
The Needed Call
Jared Coe, a friend and Youth Pastor in Glenwood Springs, CO was a late addition to the YMV’s this year. While out to Colorado to train students in Colorado Spring (two churches) I made my way up and over to Glenwood to do a last minute training of the Glenwood Springs students. The only problem: we didn’t know for sure where they were going to go. Jared (who has done two trips with me in the past) wanted to do a custom trip and stay in state.
While serving as a Youth Pastor in Phoenix I had taken three teams into Southern Colorado, so it seemed like it would be a an easy land to get one of those three churches to commit to be the “receiving” town for Jared’s group. Well, for whatever reason, one town/church had a very busy summer and didn’t think they had need for a team. Another town was very slow in getting back to me and the pastors had changed since I had served there and it seems they weren’t that interested just by how slow they got back to my every call or email. The third town/church seemed to be a little too far out of the way for Jared’s group, so I was pursuing other options.
Because of my great relationship with an organization, Village Missions, I decided to pursue a VM church in Colorado. The only problem, the Pastor in Kittredge (the church I pursued) was on a mission trip to Poland. He did, however, respond to an email, and this gave me great hope as he expressed interest. Well, in order to keep this post from getting too long, long story short, I FINALLY spoke to the Pastor yesterday (after he had returned) and he gave a resounding “Yes” to having a team! So, without further ado, welcome to Kittredge, CO for a YMV team! Praise the Lord!
The Launch And Landing Details
The other potential “stress” was coming into play last week as well. Each of our trips starts and ends in a hub city. The Montana and Idaho are going Launch/Land in Spokane. NorCal will be in Salem, OR, The Gulf Coast teams will hub in Dallas, and the Hawaii team will be in their town of Anahola. Well, the only problem, my original Spokane hub church was not able to commit to being the Hub. So, with less than two weeks before our first trip, we didn’t know where our Hub was going to be (keep in mind we have three different weeks of MT/ID mission trips!). Again, long-story-short, God answered prayers in a mighty way and over the last three days I had two churches say yes to being our hub! We only need one, but I am thankful that two churches stepped forward!
Thanks for your faithful prayers!
More Prayer!
Because there are 24 different teams going on the mission trips, it is nearly impossible for me to keep my blog up to date with all the specific requests for each of the teams. I am going to post an “adopt a team” blog in the next few days. I did this through my prayer letter and we have several teams adopted already, but we want more people praying faithfully for each team. Please go to www.youthmark.com and click on “blogs” and you’ll see the list of teams. Most of the churches are using the blog, some will kick in just for the trip.
Grace,
Brian
We are officially two weeks away from the launch of our first mission trips! The first weekend will only have one team going out. First Baptist of Chehalis will be heading to Simms, MT!
This weekend will be crunch time for the completion of a few major projects in order to have things set for the trips. Please take the time to praise God for the following items and the pray for the things that still need to get done!
Praises:
Prayer Requests:
Thanks so much for your prayers! I am so thankful to God for His provision and am trusting Him with all the details!
Grace,
Brian
BRIANAABY.COM 