Youth With A Mission Modesto is Aaron Alford, Jimmy, Kelly, Mila, Zion and Gabriel Sustar, Julie Harrison, Alexa Blevins and Chris (me!), Amie, Josh, Sam and Stella Whitler. We also have many friends, partners and supporters that make our life and work here possible. We live exclusively on the grace of God through donations to our work from congregations, families and friends.
We serve a Mission...
Youth with a Mission (YWAM) is a specialized, inter-denominational missionary order desiring “to know God and make Him known.” YWAM is committed to...
Convey the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Change lives through training.
Care for those in need around the world.
We are aligned with this vision and one or more of these elements is a part of everything we do. We connect with others in our mission regionally for mutual prayer and conference. We teach our style of outreach to YWAM trainees when called on.
We serve A church...
Aaron and I are deacons at New Hope Christian Fellowship, a small, Bible based, non-denominational congregation. I lead the congregation in worship on Sundays. We facilitate the youth group meetings in a team and are available to listen to and pray with them. We attend the leadership meetings. We help run monthly prayer meetings. We serve the members who have needs and help to connect people to resources in the community. We serve the vision of the elders. We serve the activities of the congregation.
We serve THE church....
We connect with local networks of church and ministry workers and build relationships and serve where we can. We host teams from out of town and locally to teach them the joy of simple outreach by taking them along with us to 9th St. and other hurting places in our city. We partner with local inter-church worship and outreach efforts.
We serve two international organizations...
One is Compasio, a ministry to impoverished families on the Thai/Burmese border. Jimmy and Kelly are moving their family to Thailand for two years to work with them (read more about that HERE). Aaron goes to work in Thailand at least once a year for a month or more. I sit on the US board for Compasio.
We assist Global Youth Network in Canada in the training of young leaders by hosting an annual group for 10 days. Global is an international justice and education organization that we worked with and learned from before coming to Modesto. We also partner with Global in other projects including retreats and camps.
We serve the poor, lonely and broken...
Each Friday, we set up a little cafe in a forgotten place in our city and spend time with hurting people. We serve coffee, some food and friendship. Friendship is the heart of our little team. Out of friendship comes everything else. We have been with people through recovery from substance abuse. We have seen people come to and back to relationship with Jesus. We have seen people leave the street. We have seen them fall, get up and fall again. Through it all, we offer friendship, prayer and support. And we seek to engage our creativity in being a voice for these friends.
And, because we are a 501c3 non-profit in California -
We also keep our own books, manage donations, and raise our own personal and corporate support. Some of our ministry is right out of pocket and some of it comes from our corporate budget.
Please pray for us. Sometimes it's a lot to juggle and we are in a constant state of re-evaluation as this life is quite dynamic. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support and friendship.
Youth With A Mission, Modesto
