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Glenwood to Paonia (Scouting Part 2)

Brian Aaby 1 Comment
With bellies full from our Pizza in Idaho Springs, CO, we happily arrived in Glenwood Springs in time to grab some time watching hoops with the Coe family.  Jared and I used to be in a YP network together and the Coe’s know Buzz through Buzz’s daughter, Rebecca.  After some NCAA action, it was time for a nice walk in the CO cool air.  After a great dinner from Andrea, we stayed up too late talking.

The Sunday morning alarm sounded too early, but I am happy we got out of the house when we did, because our drive to Paonia was absolutely spectacular.  Little did I know that we were going to go over a mountain pass that was over 11,000 feet. The weather was gorgeous and helped set the stage for the great views we were experiencing.  I said to Buzz, “here’s our worship service.”

Paonia Christian Fellowship, the church we were visiting and hoping to “land” as a receiving town was probably the most friendly church I have ever attended.  Seriously.  A smaller congregation of 50-60, but I believe I met almost every one of them and not just “met” but actually go to know a great number as they sought to know their visitors, not just know our names.  We experienced a small Sunday School class (about 12-15 people) and then the church service.

After a long visit with folks after the service we drove to the Mills house, Mike and Holli are serving as Youth Pastor/Musicians/Admin/etc./etc./etc.  It seems like many-a-hat they wear.  But they are proud to do so, they love their church and are happy to serve in a variety of roles–though Mike’s official title is “youth pastor.”

We were introduced to Mike through a random conversation I had about a month prior to the scout trip with my former Appprentice, Eric.  Eric is now serving as the Youth Pastor at my former church.  We were talking about some upcoming scout trips I was scheduling and he mentioned that his former boss from camp now serves at a small town in CO.  It just so happened to be 75 minutes away from a place I needed to go anyway (Glenwood Springs).  Small world? Yes. God ordained conversation? Bigger YES!

After feeling a strong sense of connection with Mike and Holli (and family) and receiving a great homemade soup for lunch, it was time to part our ways and make the trek back over the passes in route to Boulder.  We did stop off for a coffee with Jared back in Glenwood so he could pick my brain about training up some interns.  Great coffee.

Here are some pictures of the drive to and from and of the church/castle in Paonia (and those who know Eric, check out Mr. Skinny who served as a groomsman in the Mill’s wedding):

We were praising the Lord for two major lands already… a hub for the Mountains and Mid-American trip (Glenwood Springs) and a community to serve for Austin Bluffs Evangelical Free church in Paonia!

Next up:  Boulder and Dare 2 Share

Grace,

Brian

Bloggable Will

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Great dinner conversation tonight…

Girls had just gone upstairs to change for church.  Will in his high chair, Elisabeth next to me at the table.

Me: Hey Will, should Mommy and Daddy make-out?

Will: NO!

Elisabeth: Why not?

Will: Yucky!

Grace,
Brian

Denver to Glenwood Springs (Scouting Part 1)

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Over the next couple days I will give you a report of my Scout trip I took with my friend Buzz.

When Buzz and I met at the airport on Saturday morning I was able to communicate with him our main objectives for the trip:

  • We needed to land (secure) our hub (launch) location for the Mountains and Mid-America mission trip (June 18/19).
  • We needed to find one rural community in the mountains of CO as a receiving area for one of our YMV teams.
  • We were heading to East Boulder Baptist to speak to their group(s) who are heading to Alaska.
  • We were to meet with Dare 2 Share in Arvada, CO on Monday.
  • We were to meet with Mike Gaines of the Colorado Baptist Convention (I am speaking at a couple of their camps this summer).
  • We were to fly to Phoenix.
  • We were to go to Tonto Basin, one of our receiving communities and introduce them to Jeff, the YP brining in his team.
  • We were to go to Page, AZ and find a church willing to take on a LARGE YMV team.
  • We were to find one other rural community in AZ to receive a team from Seattle.
  • And last, but not least, we needed a hub for our Desert SW launch in Phoenix.

In addition, if we had time we’d go to an M’s spring training game…

So we took off, landed, rented and then drove to a very important meeting in Idaho Springs, CO… that meeting was to introduce Buzz to the first or second best pizza I have ever had (I smell, or taste, a Top 5 coming soon).  Great times at Beau Jo’s.

We arrived in Glenwood Springs for the night with our good friends, Jared and Andrea Coe.

That’s where we’ll pick up later… More soon!

Grace,
Brian

His MYSTERIOUS Ways…

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I am just returning from several days of travel.  This trip took us (had a travel companion in my good friend, Buzz) from Seattle to Denver to Glenwood Springs, to Paonia, to Boulder, back to Denver to fly to Phoenix.  From Phoenix to Tonto Basin to Pine, to Page back to Pine and back to Phoenix.

There were so many things that happened on this trip that it would be impossible to post in one blog post.  Therefore, over the next few posts and over at the  other blog, I will reveal the amazing things that God has done in providing for us at Youthmark and for the many teams preparing for their Youthmark Mission Venture.

…Simply amazing stuff that can only be summarized by saying, “Praise God, He certainly moves in mysterious ways.”

Hold on tight, the ride is about to begin…

Grace,

Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Opening Day

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Sorry, almost tardy on the entry, an extremely busy time and an even more extremely busy day.

Today’s top 5 has to do with one of my favorite traditions, Opening Day!  I’ll be at Safeco on opening day once again and this quick list highlights the top 5 things I am looking forward to about being at the Safe!

Without further ado and so I can get to bed, the list.

Five: Tradition! Going the game with my wife (and now more family) has been such a fun tradition!  I can’t remember the last opening day I missed!  It helps to have an incredibly wonderful “gifter” each year who makes this tradition possible!

Four: The Food at the Hit It Here Cafe. The food isn’t the best, but it’s not the worst either… but the very fact that I’m eating it while watching the M’s makes it get on the top 5!

Three: Magnet Calendar! This would be number 1 on Elisabeth’s list.  We get a free refrigerator magnet of the M’s schedule every year!

Two: The Player Introductions. The roar of the crowd is quite contagious.  Looking forward to hearing Ken Griffey Jr. announced one more time on opening day!

One: The Actual Game! I love baseball, I love the M’s and I am looking forward to seeing the season start!

Got any opening day favorites of your own?

Grace,
Brian

CONTEST: W.A.I.T.

Brian Aaby 12 Comments

Another “What Am I Thinking” contest has popped up on my blog!  This time, the winner will receive your choice of one of the new Youthmark T-shirts about to hit the market at the Spring Retreat!

You come up with the thoughts of this person, or these person and essentially give the photo a caption (comment).

I’ll narrow the field of entries into those who are in the running (this list grows, so keep them coming even if I have posted the first few contenders), then after a couple days I’ll name the winner!

Grace,

Brian

************ IN THE RUNNING *************

Steroids ruins another culture! ~ Aaron

I’m tired of your excuses. You’re going to Idaho with Youthmark! ~Marc

I’ll never say my mom’s cooking is better…ever again! ~ Jared

Hey batter, batter, batter. Swing Batter! ~Dave

Why he surprised? I tell him I am swinger. ~ AJS

*********And the Winner Is…***********

“Why he surprised?  I tell him I am swinger.”  ~AJS

You get a free shirt of choice from Youthmark… they are pretty special this year, I’ll show you next time you’re around!

Great entries everyone!

Keep Them Coming!

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You ever do anything stupid-silly?  I do.

One time I was driving down to California with my wife and one of our students (have I ever told you the Golden Boy story?, If no, leave a request, I can blog that one for sure)… Anyway, Elisabeth, Kevin and I are driving down to California, Kevin is eating some Ritz-bitz crackers stuffed with peanut butter (or was it cheese?).  He stuffed several into his mouth and said, “keep them coming.”  As his face became more and more chipmunk our laughter grew.  One by one we passed him cracker sandwiches, one by one he found more room. We literally ran out of Ritz before he ran out of mouth.  Classic funny (except the laughter did eventually cause him to spew dry cracker all over the inside of our car…)!

We ran out of crackers before he ran out of mouth…

What if we approached our prayer life the same way? What if we really understood that we could never out-ask God? He will field our praise, requests and worship more than we could ever give.

I say this in response to your prayers on behalf of Youthmark. The last two days (since my Top 5 Tuesday post on prayer) have been wonderful for the ministry and it is SO obvious that people have been praying.  God opened up doors in Alaska (and CO, AZ and MT).  But please DO NOT stop.  He (The Lord) still has room for your prayers/praise!

Please pray for more contacts and more doors to open and for solid connections for our sending/receiving places!

Keep praying!  Thanks!

Grace,
Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Youthmark Prayer Requests

Brian Aaby Leave a comment

I am not a “prayer warrior” as many call it.  I like to pray, but I am not as reliant as I would like to be, so please pray that I would pray more!  And while you’re at it, read this unique top 5 and please lift up these things that I feel are at the top of our prayer list!

The criteria for todays list:  The things that immediately come to mind that I would like you to lift up on behalf of me and the ministry of Youthmark.

Without further ado, the list…

Five: Prayer! This may seem  like a weird thing to pray for, but I do pray that hundreds, no, thousands more would join us in prayer.  I am praying that Youth Pastors who are training students RIGHT NOW, would utilize the youthmark.com blog website and that YOU would go there and begin praying for a team.  We have over 40 churches doing trips, but as of right now, only two churches have started the prayer blog.  Pray that they would get started on the communication side of prayer requests.  Prayer IS the fuel for these students, parents and leaders!  As soon as you’re done reading this post, I invite you to go there and pick a team to pray for!

Four: Spring Retreat; Challenge 2010. There is much “finish work” going on right now for the 2010 Spring Retreats.  They begin in less than a month and I feel fantastic about them, but as I stated, there is still much to be done.  Pray that the six retreats serve as a great training tool for missions here, missions now!

Three: Writing 2010 RoadGrip, HomeBase and Merge. The devotional guides for the trip and the following the mission trip are being written right now.  Pray that the writing process goes well and that the Lord gives us the insights we need in leading people through His Word during and after the trips.  RoadGrip and HomeBase are going to concentrate on key characters early in Acts and Merge this year is going to look at the life of Joshua.

Two: Receiving Towns/Churches. We are in the middle of the “scouting” season.  This is where we are looking for the connection places for our sending teams.  Pray that the right churches/pastors are open to receiving a well trained team to help reach their local community for Christ.  Because our teams come in and provide a spark, we need to be sure we’re connected with the right places equipped for the follow-up work.  Pray specifically for Alaska right now.  Because the Alaska Marine Highway dictates where we can go/when we can go, it is a difficult land.  Pray God opens the right doors in His timing!

One: Missionship! Youthmark does send teams out on trips, but his is NOT what drives us.  We are committed to the “training for the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip.”  Missionship is a term I came up with to describe a “missionary always, all-ways a missionary.” In Matthew 28:19-20 we read about THE Cause of Christ and Christians–our calling to make disciples all the time (wherever we are).  So, please pray that the students and leaders we train would understand that though they have the privilege of a trip, that they’d be about Missionship!

What can I be praying about for you?

Grace,
Brian