Category Youthmark Stuff

NorCal, SoCal, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Alberta!

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

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.

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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.

Get Over Your Evangephobia!

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Question: Why do you go on mission trips? Is evangelism a major in the equation or an occasional bi-product? Do you and your youth have evangephobia? I hope you’ll take steps toward sharing your faith, a free resource is being offered by Dare-2-Share on Tuesday, June 28 (described below).

I recently returned from a short-term mission with a Youthmark Mission Venture team to Costa Rica. In our short-history at Youthmark we have been blessed to have been in many rural setting in the US (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. Last year we had a large team in Mexico, but this Costa Rica trip marked what I would say was our first true “international mission.”

We loved serving (and serving with) the Costa Rican people. However, our goal with Youthmark has never been to just serve, we long to see service and evangelism fit together like me and a Venti coffee! Well, God provided those opportunities in unique ways. Though a language barrier existed, the barrier for some of our students far-surpassed language. Though they were raised in the church, some had never shared their faith.  Praise God, this Costa Rican experience will, I hope, fuel their future of sharing Christ-crucified and Mission51 (the 51 weeks of the year beyond this mission) will take-off!

As you examine your ministry, your group or perhaps even your church; is there a heart for evangelism that is followed by feet ready to swiftly move so that hands can be used for service and mouths may be used for witness? This is, after all, our call! Jesus has left us here (on earth) to share his story!

My friends at Dare-2-Share are once again doing a one-hour webinar titled, “Evangephobia” on Tuesday, June 28 at Noon eastern, 9:00 AM pacific. I went through the first one and having been through many D2S events, this one-hour event is well worth your time.  Greg Stier will give you some very practical tools for your church, group and self!

I believe God has called us to “all nations” (including Costa Rica), however, our first calling (according to Scripture) is our “Jerusalem.” I believe every believer is called to reach our own neighborhood with the good news!  I hope you’ll consider checking out the webinar (go to Dare2share.org and pre-register, it’s free) and even better, I pray that we’ll see our neighborhoods as our mission field!

Organizations like Youthmark, Dare2Share and a few others are making a concerted effort to see the Great Commission become the MAJOR focus for all churches (and believers for that matter). If you’ve got the phobia, get trained, get reliant and by the power of the Spirit, get going!

Grace,
Brian

Steering the Titanic!

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Last week I was in “The O.C.” Orange County California is a fun place to visit and it was even more fun to be there as an invitee to the Youth Ministry Executive Council (YMEC). There were about 45 people gathered, the Presidents/Leaders in Student Ministries of the major church (denomination) and parachurch organizations.  I was honored to be representing Youthmark at this gathering.

I knew and had interacted with well over half the people before and was blessed to spend some quality time in conversation with many of these familiar faces. I also enjoyed the new relationships and hearing different perspectives and strategies from others in Youth Ministry.

YMEC was done differently this year; a change I couldn’t have been more pleased with. Through the use of “Open Space Technology” many conversations were birthed. Instead of inviting a speaker to “speak at” the participants, we the participants were invited to speak into a variety of subjects and then see what rose to the top in our conversations.

I was very excited to see personal evangelism surface as an area that we, national leaders, better be emphasizing. It was very interesting to me that in most conversations, including these at YMEC, most people are very quick to give a head-nod of agreement that we (church/parachurch) should be emphasizing evangelism, but when it comes down to it it isn’t much more than a verbal recognition. Well, I felt the tide began to turn at YMEC. The voices that were speaking seemed to give it a little momentum and I actually felt like the proverbial Titanic could get turned around before it strikes a rock and sinks.

My friend Greg Stier described the moment I believe this started to take place in a recent blog post of his (read that here). Friends of mine like Greg, Mark Moder, Bo Boshers, Chuck Klein and Mark Matlock seemed to keep the ball rolling for the last half hour of the conversation, so much so that I literally was getting a little teary eyed thinking that if (and please pray) we really want to get serious about seeing the church, parachurch and individual call to evangelism taken seriously then we had better seriously take His call to prayer seriously!

I am praying for these three things right now.

1. Praying that my personal prayer life would grow tenfold and that a major component of those prayers would be for other orgs and churches as well as the lost!

2. I’m praying for unity to continue among these denomination and organizational leaders (and am willing to play my part in keeping the conversation going).

3. Praying that we (adults, leaders, parents, pastors, elders, etc.) all would understand that if we want to see evangelize/make disciples then we had better model it ourselves.

I’m willing to risk and be obedient to the call. I hope you are too. Let’s change the course the Titanic is on!

Grace,
Brian

Lake Retreat; What a treat!

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The weather was an absolute loss. But that was the only negative about the weekend!

On top of having our largest crowd of the Spring Retreat season, I got to have my family out at Lake Retreat with me! In fact, on Saturday, during the free time I was able to take the kids down the the rock wall where both Halle and Audrey did the full climb and got to “ring the bell”

This year I have received more feedback via FB, email and texts than any other year. The students (and leaders) are saying that this weekend has made a world of difference in his/her life. In fact, one message I just received said, “this training, single handed, has given me the passion to reach my own school for Jesus… Mission51 all the way.” Another leader posted on his wall that he felt “privileged” to be at such a retreat.  What humbling and gratifying statements.

I know that I’ve said this before, but I really feel like we (Youthmark) have hit our stride with this training. It is a great mix of worship, fellowship, teaching and practice! Yes, practice. In order to share our faith “out there” or “over there” I believe we need to practice it “right here” and “right now.”

I look forward to sharing more about the retreat (a couple cool things we do) but will wait until we’re done with our last three training times. Right now, we’d appreciate prayers for the 8 groups headed out to Lake Retreat this coming weekend!

Grace,
Brian

Our Mission51 Field!

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Sunny and upper 70’s in Houston!

More sunny and low 90’s in San Diego!

Sun, Clouds, Snow and Winds (temperatures ranged from 23 to 73) in Colorado Springs!

This weekend I feel completely at home, because I am at home!

Lake Retreat in the Southeast Seattle area plays host to not just this weekend but next weekend as well for our Youthmark Mission Ventures “Together” retreat. The first three retreats/training times have been an ABSOLUTE blessing. I have heard more compliments and convictions this year than ever before. I cannot wait for our largest crowds over the next three weeks (May 20-21 in Portland).

The Northwest is my “home court” and my Jerusalem. It is the place that Mission51 takes place for us northwesterners. It is one of the most unchurched regions of the United States. Therefore I am the most excited for these three retreats! I want to see students equipped not just to go on a short-term mission trip this summer, but I want to see them equipped for the 51 weeks of life outside of the mission trip experience (Mission51)!

If you’re passionate about the NW then please pray for these three weekends. If you’re at a church with students not coming to these weekends, there is still room at LR next weekend and Portland May 20-21. We have approx 50 spots open at each before we get too full. Here is a link for these retreats.

Can’t wait to see these teens and leaders grow in confidence in loving on their Jerusalem. The Harvest is truly plentiful, looking forward to the increase in workers for our field!

By the way, classic NW weather for this one… clouds, showers and mid 50’s!

Grace,
Brian

SoCal SoGood!

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I returned early Sunday morning (in time to be with my fam at church) from San Diego; the first official “Together’ training weekend took place at Oakbridge Camp in Ramona. What a weekend it was!  I was really pumped going into it and am even more pumped coming out of it. Of all the retreats we’ve done, this has the most “Mission51” appeal and training. Students and staff, I believe, really come home inspired to reach their home area!

I’m humbled and inspired by what I read from Jeff Lowry (a Youth Pastor who attended the retreat; you can follow their youthmark blog here):

This past weekends Together Retreat was stinkin’ awesome.  From the very first worship set, to the closing prayer, it is evident that God’s hand was all over the weekend. 

We learned a lot this weekend, all of us, myself included.  It’s amazing to watch young people acting on their faith and sharing the G.O.S.P.E.L..  For some of my youth, I think it was their first time to do that.  Sure it was a controlled environment, and nobody was going to get chased down and beaten for sharing their faith, but the butterflies that go along with it were the same, myself included.  I’m a youth pastor right, I should be a natural at that.  For too long, I’ve done what Brian Aaby talked about, and encouraged kids to do it, but never jumped in myself.  Ahhhh, the sweet smell of conviction.

Now on to the coincidence part.  This Sunday at church, we were going to have our regular youth service, but I felt this check in my spirit to stay in the main service.  Would you believe God spoke to us about Love.  And loving the “unloveable” and reaching out to the lost.  Amazing.  I don’t believe in coincidences, just that God wanted to confirm in our hearts the work He started at Together.

I also added 2 more mission trippers this weekend!  Total team is up to 13 now!  I am totally stoked!

Thanks Jeff! You and your group were a pleasure to hang out with this weekend! I’m praying for you mission to AZ but am even more pumped about your mission NOW in San Diego!

As you pray for Jeff and the other teams, I’d invite you to also pray for a few MAJOR details that need to be worked out for our Colorado retreat in a couple weeks!

Grace,
Brian

Divine Appointments

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God’s timing is so wonderful. Check out what happened today after you read this brief intro…

Mission51: The 51 weeks beyond the mission.

For too long we have had the idea that mission is what takes place “over there.”

When the Lord commissioned the early-believers in Matthew 28:19-20 and in Acts 1:8 to share the message of salvation he quite emphatically included everywhere!  “As you are going, make disciples… You will be my messenger in your own neighborhood, neighboring communities, to different people groups nearby and even all around the world” (Brian paraphrases of those two passages).

Today I was at my local coffee shop preparing for our “Tour” with Youthmark, training students/staff for Mission51. As I finished a brief phone call the voice of woman asked me a mundane question about the hoodie I am wearing.

A simple question about my shirt led to an hour conversation about God, the Bible, Adam and Eve, the depravity of man, family, broken families, loneliness, the cross, redemption and Jesus being all He proclaimed to be. “Betty” is a very well-read 79 year-old woman. She has real needs and desires to know the truth and has real skepticism about “religion” because she has seen how it has been used to divide, hurt and even kill. She sees and knows the hypocrisy of religion and her mistrust in the “institution” was very evident.

During this hour conversation two different friends of mine came into Starbucks (at different times) and greeted me.  Both are Lead (Senior) Pastors in the area.  Each greeted us both very warmly and didn’t mention they were pastors, they just took interest in me and Betty. After introductions and small talk I did let Betty know that these men (both under 40) are local pastors. They both don’t have the “look” of being senior pastors and both simply joined the conversation with ease.  They partnered with me in sharing a bit of the Gospel (even if it was just listening well to her story). Betty told me, “I went to McDonalds this morning and took my food out to my car, I even had a coffee from there, but for whatever reason, I decided to come over to Starbucks and get another coffee, I just didn’t want to be alone in my car… I had no idea that a simple question about your shirt would lead to such a great conversation…”

As I was preparing to to prepare students and staff for Mission51, I was participating in my Mission51!

Pray for Betty, pray she comes to trust in Jesus as the way, the truth and truly her eternal hope for life!

Grace,

Brian

Specific Prayer Partners!

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Hey Friends!

We have these really cool blogs going on over at youthmark.com.  Just yesterday I shot an email to all the participating youth groups for the 2011 YMV’s. In that email I stated that the biggest mistake that Youth Pastors admit to after a YMV experience is not soliciting prayer early enough or often enough! Even now, only about 1/3 of the teams are blogging, let’s pray them onto here!

I don’t want to make that same mistake of not soliciting prayer!

This blog post is a unique one, it is a call for prayer (right now) but beyond that a call for prayer-partnership for those who would like to carry us through any of the areas listed below. If you want to “partner” please comment on this post. I will then be able to email you anything specifically because email addresses can be seen by me for anyone who comments.

Here are the things I am looking for prayer partners:

  1. San Diego area Spring Retreat (April 15/16)
  2. Denver area Spring Retreat (April 29/30)
  3. Seattle area Spring Retreat #1 (May 6/7)
  4. Seattle area Spring Retreat #2 (May 13/14)
  5. Portland area Spring Retreat (May 20/21)
  6. Prayer partners for Joe Poppino (worship leader)
  7. Prayer partners for The Admission (the band launching out of these retreats and co-leading with Joe)
  8. Prayer partners for the 40 or so Youth Groups training through the spring for Mission51 (and a mission trip this summer)
  9. Prayer partners for me specifically and the teaching done at these retreats
  10. Prayer partner for my family specifically and the great times I have with them before and between each of the training times!

Would love to see all 10 of these areas “partnered” and perhaps even more than one parter on each!  Any takers?

Grace,
Brian