April is a crazy time for us as we help produce and serve at the Oregon Ministry Network Summit as well as the statewide GenNow Ministries' Amplify Fine Arts Conference! This year, with covid restrictions, Amplify is being split into two separate events, two weekends and two locations. All of these events are near and dear to our hearts. Summit is a conference/business meeting for all Assemblies of God Pastors and leadership statewide and Amplify is an amazing event for young people to Discover, Develop and Deploy their God-given talents and gifts in front of panels of evaluators and other students.
Both of these events are great opportunities for our students to love on others, serve well, meet more people and get the word out about our program. Amplify is a great opportunity for OYAMA to connect with others who may be called to pursue Pastoral ministry!
I'd love to share some of the wins within OYAMA lately:
- First year students have been blessed to visit and observe multiple youth and children's services all over the Willamette Valley and beyond.
- All of our students have gotten stable jobs that provide exactly what they need to continue to pursue ministry! Go God!
- Being able to help serve at the GenNow Fusion leadership conference in February and the Embraced Women's event were HUGE wins for us! Students had the opportunity to serve their soon to be peers and it's always great to see previous OYAMA grads serving their churches and communities well!
- Our weekly meetings have been a lot of fun as we discuss multiple difficult ministry scenarios, how to become better speakers/teachers, how to turn social media into social ministry,
As we enter this busy season, please be praying for our students. They will be tired. They will be exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. Pray that we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve well, minister to others, grow personally, lean on the Word and presence of our great God, pray that the Pastors and teens of Oregon encounter a very real God during these events and that our students would finish the school year strong through all of it.
On a personal note, I'm overwhelmed with the provision of our Father. As you've joined with us in prayer and support, the Lord has opened doors and provided more and more opportunities for Brittany and I to travel and speak. We've had chances to fill in for Pastors needing a break, we've been able to share about OYAMA and Youth Alive as a whole with entire churches and we've been able to connect with people all over the state and encourage many to continue seeking God's will for their individual lives.
As always we need your prayers! Pray for our students, pray for the churches and people that we minister to, lastly, pray for us that we would be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and continue to walk in faith through every opportunity the Lord would lead us to take. I ask that if you haven't yet, please pray and consider whether supporting Youth Alive, OYAMA, Brittany and myself financially would be a step Jesus would have you take.
You can set up monthly support at https://giving.ag.org then type in 282345 as the ministry code. You can set up one-time or recurring support. We cannot continue to minister without our team of prayer warriors and those who lift us up financially.
