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And then there was one…

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Thanks to all who have been praying oh-so-fervently on our behalf!  Join us in PRAISE that the prayer requests from last week have all pretty-much been answered! Alaska happened differently than we would think, Montana answers came slower than we had hoped, but literally at the PERFECT time to provide the encouragement we needed and then the Lord is doing a very unique thing with a couple shifts right now too (pray!). Join me in prayer for one more answer that we think could happen Sunday!

We are praying that a town in Montana says “yes” to receiving a team being trained for Montana.  We have a few other options, but I believe God may have us at this one specific place for this specific time.  The church is “between” Pastors and I think this could be just the spark they need!  Pray that the board of this church discerns God’s will and whatever the answer is, that we all praise God for what He is doing!

Exciting times!

Grace,

Brian

Top Five Tuesday: YMV Spring Retreat #1

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

This last weekend was our first “Spring Challenge” the Youthmark Mission Venture Spring Retreat.  It took place at Northwest Bible Church in Spring, Texas.  It included the youth groups from NWBC and another from Vinton, LA.  The students from Vinton are going out this year, one year after having a team from West Seattle serve in their community last summer!  It was so exciting to have them there.  I did post more about this retreat here.

So, today’s top 5 is a little different in that it’s sort of a report and a top 5 at the same time.  The criteria is pretty simple, my top five memories of the weekend.

Without further ado, the list:

Five: The launch of Mission51. I’ve been working on this little project that I’d say summarizes what we’re about at Youthmark… We do mission trips, but our passion is the 51 weeks of life outside of the mission trip.  Mission51 is really the call to be a missionary always, all ways a missionary.  You know it is an official movement when you have zip-up hoodies with the logo.  By the way, you can become a fan of mission51  on facebook and stay tuned for the mission51.org website.

Four: The Moment. There is a moment in the retreat that I was really looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. Because many have not attended who will attend, I can’t describe it, except to say, it was pretty powerful and God made Himself clear.

Three: Neil. My friend Neil Moloney, who is galavanting across the nation on a road trip right now timed his trip in order to be in Spring at the exact same time as us.  I put him to use right away.  Not only did Neil do some behind the scenes things, he helped with the worship with Joe Poppino as well.  Because we all got in on Thursday we had some quality time outside of Youthmark stuff as well.

Two:  Time with the Leaders. The team leaders for both NWBC and Crossroads of Vinton are such sweet people.  NWBC is heading into two communities in Idaho this summer, so the 8 leaders they had at the retreat were anxious to be trained.  Another Rob (the Sr. Pastor in Vinton) was not able to attend, however, the Crossroads youth leader, my friend Michelle, was there in all her Southern Accented glory.  The time chatting, encouraging and being encouraged by the leaders was sweet.

One: The Album. Joe Poppino, who is the worship leader for Youthmark–oh, and a worship pastor at a church in Mt. Vernon– was with me on the trip.  For the local retreats we have a band that plays with Joe. but to keep costs down, we have just Joe go on the out-of-area retreats.  Because Joe is such a gifted leader/teacher, we encourage the host church to bring in their musicians on Friday afternoon so that Joe can form a band for the weekend with his leadership.  Well, the NWBC students were excited to do this, that is, until someone Googled “Joe Poppino” and found out that Joe has “an album.”  The intimidation of a legitimate musician got the students too nervous to play.  This, of course, became the running joke of the weekend. Humble Joe (and he is humble) became known as Mr. Bigshot who has “an album.”   I started referring to him as “the talent.” And we all wanted signed autographs, because, afterall, he does have “an album.”

Looking forward to our other five retreats this spring, but this one was special!

Grace,

Brian

Family Meeting: Halle’s Poem

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

About every five or six weeks one (or all of our kids) will start running through the house yelling “attention, attention!”–which, is really fun to hear Will saying this right now.

Anyway, what typically follows is the announcement that we will be having a “family meeting.”  These meetings normally are more of a Letterman talk-show filled with prepared or unprepared talent. Last night we had a family meeting.  We all received awards prepared by Halle (I won “simply the best Daddy!”).  On top of the prepared awards, Halle read to us her Poem about Jesus.

Enjoy…

We were blessed.

Grace,

Brian

Pine and Page (Scouting Part 5)

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I had every intent of asking the librarian about the local churches, however as I approached the sidewalk toward the front door of the library, a red sedan pulled in and blocked the walkway.  As the driver got ouf of the car to return his borrowed dvd’s he noticed he had blocked our walk… He quickly apologized.
I never did make it into the library, the 45 minutes, or so, we spent with Brandon in the front of the library were God ordained.  As I asked him about the churches in the community his face lit up.  Brandon was three years into his walk with Christ.  He was saved from a very tough life, one filled with the lusts of the world.  A father-out-of-wedlock and a six year addition to Meth, he had been clean now for three years and is just about to gain back custody of his children he loves so dearly!
Brandon gave us the contacts we needed and we set up appointments with the pastors in Pine who we’d be able to meet the next day on our -out of the way- way back home.
As we left Pine, we stood (well, sat) astonished by the Lord.  He had everything under control.  He had us leave Tonto Basin at just the right time.  He had me not stop at the grocery store, instead see a school which prompted me to turn.  He had timed Brandon’s drive perfectly so that we could have that meeting at that time at that place so that this summer, ultimately, teens (and others) in Pine can hear about Christ.
How cool is that?
Praise God!
Off from Pine, we were now to praise God for all of His creation we’d get to see in the diverse beauty of the state of Arizona as we drove to Page.
More later….
Grace,
Brian

Tonto Basin and… (Scouting Part 4)

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My friend Jeff Clabaugh from Pine Valley, CA joined us late Monday night in Phoenix.  After some catching up with our hosts, JP and Andrea, we crashed for the night.  On Tuesday morning we made our way to Tonto Basin to begin the relationship between Pine Valley and Tonto Basin.  PV will be serving TB. Quick side-note, Pine Valley is a place I served a few years ago with a team from Boulevard, fast forward a couple years, it is such a blessing to have them as a sending team now!

I greatly enjoyed the drive up to Tonto Basin, I rode with Jeff, which gave us a couple hours to catch up and help get him further down the path of leading a Youthmark Mission Venture.  I am sure Buzz enjoyed some down-time to himself as well as he drove our rental.

Robert and Stephanie who Pastor the flock in Tonto Basin were gracious hosts to us for the few hours we spent with them.  They had just returned from being gone five weeks for the adoption of their first daughter!  It was great to be among the first to welcome them back home with their little one.

We left Jeff behind to continue to meet in Tonto Basin and Buzz and I drove north on our way to Page, knowing that we needed at least one more place on top of hoping Page would be a land.  On our way up I knew there could be a place or two that we’d randomly drive though that could be a fit.

As the side-of-the-road signs announce the number of miles until Flagstaff I noticed a second town name on one of the signs.  Pine, Arizona quickly approached and I wondered what kind of town we’d find.  As we drove through there was not a noticable church by the side of the road, if I were to stop we’d probably have to ask someone… so I decided to probably not stop.

As we approached the north end of town I saw the school and decided to at least make t the left and see if a church lay back around the school (they often do in rural communities).  Nope, no luck.  As we turned around, however, the public library was in sight and I decided to go ahead and be bold and ask the librarian about a church.
We parked and I never did make it to the Librarian….

To be continued….

Grace,

Brian

Let’s Watch Him Work!!!

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

I’m going to trust Jesus.  Will you join me?

This last week was one of huge blessings and answered prayer.  In the last week, I believe, we have had six or seven of our “question marks” in terms of places we will be sending mission teams this summer become “confirmed” places.

Here is the specific request:  We still have three invitations out there to places that we are hoping praying and trusting the Lord for.  Will you join us?

Pray for the town in Alaska that we’ve had great discussions with, but has yet to give us the “all clear.”

Pray for the two towns in Montana that we feel would each be a fantastic fit for the two different teams we have headed that direction.

Pray for the city-venture team to Seattle and the invite for the host church we believe would be a great connection.

These four places to match the four trained teams.  God, you know what needs to happen.  We trust.

Are you praying?

Grace,
Brian

Boulder and Dare2Share (Scouting Part 3)

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Sunday night we arrived in Boulder just at the tail end of a Seder Meal the church was conducting.  It was nice to arrive and see so many people (100+) enjoying a time of fellowship and teaching.  Knowing that the meal had lasted over two-and-a-half hours Buzz and I knew we needed to keep our time with the mission team short. Not everyone from the East Boulder Baptist team was able to make the short gathering, but it was a lot of fun.  This group is pretty excited to head north to Alaska.  Over the last few months I have formed a friendship with the Youth Pastor, Tom Coffan.  Tom has served at this church for 19 years, and has nearly 4 decades of Youth Ministry experience!  It’s an honor to have him on board.

Buzz and I enjoyed some great downtime on Sunday night (late) and Monday morning, enjoying a couple meals and debriefing everything that had taken place thus far.

On Monday we arrived for a scheduled meeting at Dare2Share.  There we met with Jason Lamb and Debbie Bresina.  Great folk.  Debbie is the Executive VP and Jason is in charge of a bunch of stuff.  This was really a “get to know you” meeting where both organizations are interested in what the other is doing.  We are VERY united in our passion to see students equipped to share the Good News!  I firmly believe that this was just the beginning of the conversation!  It was fun to have Buzz learn so much more about Youth Ministry.  He got to meet Greg Stier, the President of D2S and then later in the day meet my friend Mike Gaines, a former D2S staffer who is now the main Youth Guy for the Colorado Baptist Convention.

Monday was refreshing to me, because it was more about discussions than convincing. After D2S, lunch and a coffee with Mike Gaines we were off to the airport for our flight to Phoenix…

Grace,
Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Late-Night Bits

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Time is not my best friend right now, but do want to stay consistent for those of you who check in on Tuesdays to see the ol’ top 5.

Here is a quick one… my top 5 little bits that take place on Late-Night TV right now.  The criteria for this one, it has to be now, current and on one of the late-night talk shows.  Sorry Conan, can’t give you props right now, though you’d have one or two if NBC hadn’t messed that one up!

Without further ado, the list.

Five: Rupert G. Any bit with David Letterman and his Deli-buddy Rupert makes me laugh.

Four: Jaywalking. I don’t really like Jay Leno that much, but every now and then I’ll see his bit on the street and see him interview people who just don’t know much.  It makes me laugh.

Three: Top Ten. The Letterman classic is still in the top five for me.  Way to go Dave!  Not all of them are great, but I have a new sense of appreciation… I have a hard enough time coming up with a top 5 list once a week, c’mon they do something funny every night!

Two: This Week in Unnecessary Censorship. Jimmy Kimmel Live has found his little niche in my late-night channel surfing, if I’m still awake.  This bit is sometimes over the line, but usually will have me laughing out loud a couple times.  Especially when he throws in something from a cartoon or Sesame Street.

One:  Thank You Cards.  Jimmy Fallon was so awkward when his Late-Night show started, however, he has found his groove and on Friday evenings he does his “Thank You Cards” for the week.  Absolutely creative and funny!

I am quite sure I am missing something here, let me know what bits are the best and perhaps I can check ’em out!

Grace,

Brian

On our behalf…

Brian Aaby 2 Comments

A couple weeks ago I was feeling the big-burden of wondering what God had in store for us in terms of the connections between our Sending and Receiving communities.  The biggest prayer request that I had was for Alaska and the connections we needed to secure.  Well, almost immediately we saw the Lord answer and open up doors.

As you read below, I’d love to know if you’ll take one of these specific areas and start praying for that specific one ALL Week!  I know HE wants to answer, I want to be sure we’re covering each one!  Please comment!

As we begin to turn the corner and start our Spring Retreats very soon, I would ask that we unite in prayer once again in the finalization of our connections between sending and receiving.  Specifics you can pray for…

  • Alaska: Four teams going to AK this summer and we have one locked-in, the other three are all solid leads, but the leadership in these receiving communities have important meetings this week.  Pray that the Lord opens those hearts/minds to understand the partnership that can be!
  • Canada: We have one team training to serve in inner-city Vancouver.  We have a great lead here, but nothing is set in stone yet, please pray that the most current email communication is clear to that receiving church and that they see it as a fantastic opportunity to partner.
  • Arizona: We have two churches meeting with their boards this week.  Pray that the miracle continues in Page, this one is quite the story!  I’ll post about that in my series I am writing right now!  Pray that both Pine and Page are a connection as Tonto Basin is already!
  • Montana: We are praying the Lord finalizes three more connections (all of which have good contacts, we just need the final “yay”).
  • Idaho: Still waiting on one last “go.”  Just got an email this morning from the Pastor we are pursuing as the hopeful place to go!
  • Washington: We have an inner-city team I am beginning to do the groundwork on.  Pray that my connections for this trip work out and we have a great receiving church to work with as we put together the day-in-day-out stuff!
  • Oregon: We are still placing one more team for a late summer trip.  In fact, there is still one more team considering going on this trip too, so pray for God’s will to be done and the right folk to go to the right place!  He knows!
  • Praise for the Connections: Please praise the Lord for the already solid connections we have in Oregon, Washington, Louisiana, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Alaska, Mexico and Idaho.  We have more solid connections than not!  Praise God for these partnerships and pray that as the sending/receiving leadership start planning together that their bonds grow!

Now, as you read the above, I’d love to know if you’ll take one of these specific areas and start praying for that specific one ALL Week (every day, whenever the Lord brings this to mind)! Let me know which one(s) you are committed to for the week.  I’ll update you after the week!  Leave a comment letting me know.

Grace,

Brian