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Friday with Friends

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Elisabeth and I had a great night with friends on Friday.

The evening started with dinner.  It was decent.  The window at the restaurant says, “Mexican Style Food.”  Interesting.  So was the food.  It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t the best.  Later, when I told a friend who works down near that restaurant that I had gone, he said, “yeah, we’ve all been there once.”

Then we made our way over to Calvary Chapel South where Tim Hawkins was doing a show.  Tim is a comedian, if you have not seen him here is a one minute sampling.

We had a great night, lots of laughter.  A much needed break.

Grace,

Brian

What is Your Cause?

Brian Aaby 3 Comments

Years ago a Southern California Pastor released a couple of books that caused millions to ponder the question of purpose…

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is?  I have asked that question for myself.  And I know.

As a person who has placed my faith in Jesus (through His grace alone), I KNOW the Lord has left me here with purpose, with a cause, in fact, with THE Cause.

He tells me in Acts 1:8, “You will be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost…” He says in Matthew 28:19-20, “makes disciples…”

THE Cause is the rebranding of the 300+ year old name, “Great Commission” which in actuality is about a 2000 year-old command that Jesus Himself gave us.

This morning I gathered with eight Youth Pastors at a local coffee shop and I heard each of these Pastors share about their students who are now pumped about living out THE Cause.  Many re-introduced to this call at Dare 2 Share.  They relayed stories of students departing church on Sunday with the purpose of sharing the Grace of God with friends and strangers in their neighborhoods.  They told stories of students not just talking about it, but doing it.

The question to the Youth Pastors (and Youth Leaders/Parents):  Will you?

We want our students to live & share THE Cause, but as parents, leaders and Youth Pastors, are we?

I am committed to consumed by/for THE Cause.  It is my life… may my words, thoughts and actions reflect THAT Cause.

Youthmark is passionate for consumed by/for THE Cause.  It is our purpose!  May students/leaders/parents be trained for the 51 weeks of life outside the mission trip!  May we be about missionship (a missionary always, all ways a missionary)!

This isn’t about Youthmark.  It’s not about Dare 2 Share. It’s not about me/you. It’s about redemption, calling and purpose–it’s all about Jesus.

A note to those who don’t know know/think they have a relationship with Jesus: The Lord created you to be in relationship with Him.  Because you (and I, and everyone) has sinned, we have broken that relationship; you and I have turned our back on the God who loves us passionately.  Because He loves so passionately He sent His perfect Son, Jesus, to be our living sacrifice, a payment for our sin through His death on the cross–so that we may, once again, be in relationship with the Lord. This FREE and UNMERITED gift from the Lord came in Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We now may have life eternally with Him (starting now)!  If you have never placed your faith in Him, it would be my honor to help you to understand how you can do that.  Please email me at brian{at}youthmark{dot}com.

Let’s live/and speak out THE Cause!

Grace,

Brian

Top Five Tuesday: My Current iPhone Apps

Brian Aaby 5 Comments

An obvious category that I have not yet posted about would be the Apps on my iPhone.  I kind of had this one in the reserves for a Tuesday when nothing else was popping to mind.

Let me first state, I love my Lord, I love my wife, kids and extended family. I love my friends and I love the Lost (those whom have not placed their faith in Christ… yet).  Somewhere in the middle of the list falls my iPhone as well.

So, the criteria for today, I can only choose the apps I currently have on my iPhone, and my hope is that this list actually causes some folk to comment me some suggestions for new apps as well!

Without further ado, the list…

Honorable Mentions: Zippo Lighter, Paper Toss, SportsCenter, Mars Hill, Holy Bible, Flixster and The VIP Card.

Five: Dragon. I get pretty ticked seeing people on the roads on their cell phones and texting, well, Dragon is the cure.  This is a voice dictation app that allows me to text by voice.  Keeping my hands free.  The fun part, it’s not always right, so some of the things it hears compared to what I actually said give me some comic relief!

Four: Hearts. What can I say, I love me some hearts.  The nice thing with this game compared to the old Windows hearts game on a PC… these computer players don’t let you shoot the moon on every hand.

Three: Facebook. Who isn’t on FB?  Seriously, whether you’re waiting in the doctors office and need a cure for boredom or if you’re needing to get in touch with a friend but don’t have a cell # or email for them on you, FB will hook you up!

Two: Camera. I realize that most phones have cameras now, but not all have video cameras.  The ease of taking a video and/or photo and quickly emailing it is pretty amazing.  The quality continues to improve on both of these cameras, and as long as you’re pretty close to the action, the pics turn out pretty nice!

One: Maps! See ya later Dog, you have been replaced as “man’s best friend.”  Your nose could never point me in the right direction as often as the Maps App on the iPhone has.  Seriously, you don’t even need to know the address of the place you’re headed, I can simply put the name of the place (i.e. “Red Robin”) and this app will give me turn by turn directions!  I cannot imagine doing a YMV Scout trip w/o my iPhone (thought the AT&T service area needs to improve, or Verizon needs to land the next contract with Apple).

Alright, give me some great ones.  I have yet to pay for an App, so that may tell you what kind of App I am looking for!

Grace,
Brian

Whirlwind Days

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Quick highlights of the last few days… with the promise of some in-depth reporting on a few of these in the days ahead.

Montana Sunrise on Wednesday

Tuesday & Wednesday: YMV Scout trip for our teams headed to Montana this summer.  I drove to Spokane, picked up Kirk Petersen at midnight on Monday, we were in Missoula by late morning Tuesday and scouted about 10 communities covering several hundred miles in two days.  I was home and in bed by about midnight on Wednesday.  CRAZY.

Greg Stier

Thursday: Kent/Renton Network meeting; meeting with a potential YMV team for this summer and then up to Seattle to meet with Greg Stier, the President of Dare 2 Share Ministries.  It was an honor to grab coffee with a guy and ministry I respect a lot.  After the coffee I quickly met with Frankie Santana (former student, current worship team drummer for Youthmark and also helping me with a special project). Then I got some down time with the family and cuddle time on the couch with my bride catching up on a few DVR’d shows.

Friday and Saturday: Coffee with Carlos Huizar, a friend and Youth Pastor in West Seattle, lunch with Nathan &Megan Schlaud (YP & Wife from West Seattle), picked up Jason Lamb (Dare 2 Share friend) and delivered him from airport to the Key Arena and then back home for a couple hours.  At home I met with Philip Kim (YP from Federal Way) and then I went back up to Seattle for Dare 2 Share.  There on both Friday night and Saturday for most of the day I was helping with a few things behind the scenes (for both D2S and Chris Renzelman/interlinc) and hanging out with a bunch of Youth.  Very excited about THE Cause (more on that later, for sure).

Now I rest at home thinking of the weeks ahead that include prep for our Spring Retreats, scouting for missions, completion of study guides and much, much more.  For now… I rest.

Grace,
Brian

Fun Discovery

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Just came across something fun on the web…

Several months ago my friend Mike Gaines approached me and asked me to pray about speaking at his denominations Summer Camps this summer.  Both of the camps had slight conflicts with dates in that I thought I’d have to leave one night early.  Therefore, I asked Mike if he wanted me to invite a guy whom I’m helping get his speaking-career going.

It’s going to be a blast to co-teach with Mike Penberthy at these two camps.  Mike, a former NBA player with the Lakers is really developing into a great communicator!  He’s got passion for the Word and sharing it with others!

Here’s the link to the promo for the camps!  Take a second and pray for us!

Grace,
Brian

Top Five Tuesday: Fast Food Mexican Meal

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

It is 11:42 PM on Monday as I sit down to write my Tuesday top 5.  I am hungry, so naturally, todays top 5 will deal with food and specifically the food I am craving right now!  Over the years I have become quite the fan of some Mexican foods… I like me some spice!  So for the top five today, we’re going with the fast, cheap variety of the mexi-meal.

The criteria:  Because there is a large variety in this category, I narrowed it by simply saying that if you order and they assemble and hand to you w/o delivering it to your table, then it is fast food.  This makes the likes of Baja Fresh and the like, eligible in this top 5.  In addition, though I have had better burritos, nachos or tacos at individual places in the past, I am setting the criteria that it has to be a “chain” and I have to have had it more than three times to qualify.

Without further ado, the list.

Five: Chipotle. Of the Burrito places, this one doesn’t take top honors, but is consistently good and they really do have great Chips and Guac!

Four: Taco Time. I know, it surprised me too.  Okay, I must first clarify, not just any Taco Time will do.  First, it has to be a Seattle area Taco Time and quite frankly, the Fairwood Taco Time is the reason for the number four ranking.  I love the Tacos, Mexi-Fries and the Chips and Salsa (mild salsa).  Lately, I have gone with the large chicken taco salad made with non-fat sour cream and Jack cheese!  Great stuff.

Three: Baja Fresh. I can get into the Burritos, but they have a fresh Chicken Ensalada (salad) that I think is very, very good (and healthy).  Throw some fresh salsas on as a dressing and you’ve got a filling, tasty and very healthy meal!

Two: Sharky’s Woodfired Mexican Grill. Discovered these in SoCal, but now we have one at Southcenter.  The salads are great, but I really love grabbing the Nachos with some extra Jalepenos and cilantro!

One: Qdoba. The problem at Qdoba, there are too many things that I like.  If I am going healthy, the naked taco salad, sans the dressing is the way to go.  I add “fajita” stuff to it as well.  However, the burritos are simply HUGE and very good… but, more often than not I am craving the Chicken Quesadilla.  Add a little red and green hot sauce to it and my taste-buds are barking high praise!

So, you think I am wrong?  Tell me how and then prove it by taking me out to your favorite place!

Grace,
Brian

Highline Christian Men’s Retreat

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Sitting down during the  “Personal Prayer and Devotions” time at the Highline Christian Church Men’s Retreat.  I just happened to have sat down at the local Starbucks which is oh-so-conveniently just five minutes away from the Retreat Center!

This weekend I am the guest-speaker for a group of about 70 men from HCC.  What a blessing.  The first blessing is that I get to open up God’s Word and learn with these men.  I count it an honor to be asked to be used of God for this purpose!  The second blessing, the retreat center is only about 20 minutes away from my house and the leaders at HCC gave me the freedom to go home and sleep in my own bed!

Any man reading this who has gone to a Men’s Retreat understands how big a blessing this is!  Men often snore.  My wife does not.

This weekend we’re exploring what it looks like to see unity among the men.  The three messages I am delivering are:

  • The Common Experience
  • The Common Problem
  • The Common Cause

If I get the opportunity to blog more about these this next week, I’ll let you know how they go.  But for now, I need to order the Sbux goodness and get back to deliver the second message!

Grace,

Brian

A New Season

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Elisabeth and I experienced what we are sure is a new season of blessing last night.  For the last few months our church has prepared to launch small groups (connection groups).  Last night we began this journey with three other couples.

For so many years Elisabeth and I have experienced small groups in a different way.  As a Youth Pastor I always had a small group of young men that I was leading (and often Elisabeth had a group of gals).  We are both gifted in leadership in this style of small group (discipling a group for years).  The other small groups we have been a part of/led have always been as a part of the launch of a new ministry and not necessarily for the true purpose of small group.  We launched the “youth marrieds” in one church, simply because we needed fellowship with people in our age/stage in life.  This was truly a blessing, but seriously, getting a bunch of young marrieds together with no mentoring is sort of like asking a bunch of four year olds together and tell them to learn to drive…with no adult help.  Though the group did provide great fellowship, wisdom may not have been at a premium?

In a couple churches we began the “college/career” ministry through leading a small group as well.  These were great, we were the mentors in these groups and though it did provide some fellowship, more often than not we were called upon to lead and not receive.

Well, last night, we gathered with these three other couples… two couples in the group are in the “next stage” of life from us (they have grown kids and both couples are in at least their late 40’s to mid 50’s) and then the third couple (besides us) is in a similar stage to us (mid to late 30’s I’d guess… yep, I didn’t ask, see I have matured).  This couple has one young son as well.

What a blessing it is to be a part of a group  where the focus is going to be fellowship and Biblical application.  We are certainly going to be in the Word, but more in response to the teaching of the previous Sunday and how we have interacted with those passages. Our focus will be in prayer, accountability, application and loving God and each other well.  I’m excited how this plays out and how we “do life” together!

A really cool and appropriately challenging goal of ours is to be purposeful in splitting the group next season (we don’t know when that will be, but we think 12-18 months).  We want to see growth in the group and get to the point where our group must become two!  May we love so well that we understand that this is needed  and may we never settle on being a holy huddle!

I’m excited for this new season and am very much looking forward to growing close to these three other couples (and the new folk who will certainly join us in the months to come).

Grace,

Brian

Top Five Tuesday: 2010 Scouting

Brian Aaby 6 Comments

The 2010 YMV Scouting season began today.  Alan Andersen, from Mars Hill Church (West Seattle) and I headed over to Selah, WA (north of Yakima) to meet with a Pastor and check out the town.  A great connection!  As I return home and begin the countdown to Tuesday being Wednesday, I thought I’d better jump onto the ol’ Macbook Pro and get going with my Top 5!

Today’s criteria… the locations I am most looking forward to scouting this spring (from this point forward, otherwise Alan may get upset for not being in my top 5)!  Every year as we prepare for the Youthmark Mission Ventures the Youth Pastors/Leaders of the sending teams let me know the area they would like to go to (general terms such as “Western Montana).  So, here are my top five areas for this year (note:  I look forward to every area, but some of these places are new so they move up the ladder).

Without further ado, the list:

Five: Alaska.  Seems like this could easily be a #1.  However, scouting the places is one thing… getting to them is another!  Not only is it pretty-darn-costly to get there, it’s pretty-darn-costly to get around as well.  The first time I did a scout to AK it was with my good friend JR.  JR owned his own plane, he flew me around in his Cessna 172 (I even got to fly it).  This time, JR will not be around and we’ll have to take the Alaska Marine Hwy.  Which could mean 8-10 hour ferry rides.  Lot’s of work gets done on 8-10 boat rides, so there is a blessing in that!

Four: Colorado. The mountains are simply gorgeous.  Enough said.  Oh, and I have lots of friends in CO!

Three: Coastal Oregon. I think we’ll have two or three teams heading to Oregon this year.  I have led teams to Oregon a few times and one of my all-time favorite places was Rockaway Beach.  I believe we’ll have a team there this summer and I look forward to catching up with some old friends in Mike and Molly.

Two: Montana. Though I have scouted Montana twice before, this year I am taking Kirk Petersen with me.  This will be his first official scout as a Youthmark-guy!  We’re looking for four or five different locations, and one highlight for me is that I’ll go further east on I-90 than I’ve ever gone as I approach the future home of my sister-in-law (she’s getting married to a true Montana Man… picture, the Marlboro Man, minus the cigs, the mustache and the leather-face).  Should be a fun trip… Kirk, are you ready?

One: Arizona. Though I did live in Phoenix, I didn’t do mission trips to Arizona (we went to Spokane, California and Colorado).  This trip is one that I am really looking forward to because it is more than just checking out the mission locations for four different teams, in addition I will be able to see some old friends, see some great scenery in the AZ Mountains (around Flagstaff) and take in an M’s Spring Training game!  Oh, and I will be traveling with a good friend, Buzz Huget!  Oh… and I can get In-N-Out!

So, if you have restaurant, hotel or any other cool places I just need to go to in those areas, please let me know.

Grace,
Brian

Our March-ing Orders: Prayer

Brian Aaby 1 Comment

Overwhelmed.

Haiti.  Chile.  Potential tsunami in Hawaii.

Broken relationships, unfulfilled dreams, lost hope, death, sickness, depression, lost jobs, and unrepentant hearts.

Opportunity!

Haiti.  Chile.  No tsunami.

Repentance, new hopes, eternity, God’s provision.

These are the themes I have heard the last few days, even weeks.  Whether the circumstance from our perspective is positive, negative or neither, we are called to pray.  Therefore, I will.  How about you?

I am feeling overwhelmed, but hopeful.  I will pray, will you?  Specifically we’d appreciate your prayers for the teams heading out on YMV’s this summer.  While the spiritual preparation is being taught and lived out in the teens right now, will you pray for the places they are headed.  Over the next 5-6 weeks we will be solidifying the relationships with churches in rural and urban settings to be the temporary harvest field for these teams going on our trips.

I am excited yet apprehensive.  I will pray, will you?  Specifically I’d appreciate your prayers for a few messages I am honored to give in the next week.  Tonight I get to speak at Young Life.  This weekend I am speaking at a Men’s Retreat for Highline Christian Church.  I am very excited to speak God’s Word, the apprehension only comes from the time I want to put into the talks vs. the time available this week to finish the prep.

I am convinced prayer works, but don’t know how. I will pray, will you?  Each year I am literally floored (in praise) by God’s specific answered prayer as I read the blogs from our teams.  It works then, how about now?  My specific requests:

  • I would like each mission team to have a mission location by the end of this month.  Please pray.
  • I am praying that each Youth Pastor is able to testify to the change taking place in their students in their own Jerusalem, and not just on the trip!
  • I am praying that Youth Pastors get their blogs rolling so we can know the specific things to pray about for them.  Check out Youthmark.com and click on missions (or just click here).  We have a new format for the blog, color coded dots indicate how recent a teams last post was.  As you’ll see, not a lot of YP’s have started, pray that many get those started this month!
  • I am praying for the six retreats Youthmark has in April and May to train the (600+) students/staff for missionship (mission lived out anytime/anywhere).  Will you join me in this praise and prayer?

Don’t hesitate to list a specific prayer you may have in the comments.

Though you and I may feel overwhelmed from time to time.  He is not.  May we trust him and become overwhelmed with/by His presence!

Grace,

Brian