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Contact Info:
Young Life Northwest Atlanta
PO Box 724731
Atlanta, GA 31139-1731
Phone: (770) 850-1888
Fax: (770) 850-1884
Contact Us
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"BEYOND ATLANTA" : AFRICA PARTNERSHIP
YL NW Atlanta + YL Africa
Africa is literally a continent of teenagers. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, 75% of the population is 21 years of age or younger, where today, close to 70% of the people are living on less than $2 a day. A little more than 3 years ago, YOUNG LIFE AFRICA set out & was led to begin praying about a goal of reaching 10 African countries over the next 5 years. Today, ETHIOPIA, TANZANIA, UGANDA, MALAWI, KENYA, LIBERIA, & ZIMBABWE are on YL Africa's Map, & we're praying right now that RWANDA & the CONGO might soon be next. In September, we were blessed to have Alexis Kwame, YL Africa Staff in Tanzania, come to NW Atlanta to be with us for 4 days, to share about what God is doing through YL’s ministry today in Arusha, Tanzania. A couple weeks later, we welcomed Steve Larmey, YL Africa's Regional Director, to our Area, at a special Committee/Staff Dinner, where he helped us introduce the greater vision & local strategy behind our newborn Partnership with the mission in Africa, under our "BEYOND ATLANTA" initiative. The general consensus & excitement among Senior YL Staff involved in prayerfully developing this Partnership & helping us to move this pilot-type initiative forward, is that if successful, it could potentially be used as new model across other Young Life Regions, for connecting YL's mission at Home with YL Internationally. We believe the Lord has put us on the verge of a truly awesome & contagious Kingdom movement here, & want to invite you to be a part of it... Praying His Spirit would continue to lead and guide us as we continue to seek out His Heart & follow His lead.
One major objective of this Partnership, will center around developing a Vision/Missions Program based out of our local area, that will send Work Teams & Vision trips to different Countries across Africa. My priority will be to recruit groups to go on these trips out of our community in NW Atlanta, specifically targeting YL Staff, Volunteer Leaders and potential new Leaders, & Senior Campaigner Kids or Junior Leaders. Strategically speaking, from a local ministry perspective, we believe that over time, the Lord will continue to use our engagement & commitment to pursue this mission frontier in Africa, to dramatically impact the spiritual development & maturity of our Local Area’s Leadership, gradually transforming the landscape of the mission field surrounding us here at home, & in our schools.
YL EXPEDITIONS helps coordinate Trips that send Work Teams to Africa, to go serve & help develop local community hubs/centers, creating a grounds that attracts kids from across surrounding communities, where the Local YL Staff & Leaders can then show up, & zero in on loving & building relationships with those kids, earning the right to be heard. Working together with the local community, our goal will be to help create a space ( aka. " Fisherman's Nets"), that allows YL Africa Staff & Leaders to do more effective & extensive 'contact work' in the communities they're living in. I will be working directly through YL Expeditions & with YL Africa Staff, using contacts I've made on the ground during the time I've spent in each country over the past few years, to organize group logistics & to coordinate the itinerary for each trip. Over the summer of 2006, I returned to Africa on Staff Assignment with YL Expeditions, to help lead Teams from Florida & Texas, on the first-ever YL Trips to Arusha, Tanzania, & to Zimbabwe.
My PRAYER, our Prayer, is simply that these Trips would leave our Hearts broken with the things that break the Heart of God, giving us His eyes & teaching us His perspective, as He works in us & through us to unite His Kingdom as one body, "Bridging the Gap" across Cultures, Color, & Continents, all for one purpose, to demonstrate His Glory.
-Drew Voyles, Fall 2006
*Pictured Above: Summer 2007 - "Beyond Atlanta : Into Africa II" - Our Group of 37, hanging out with kids & Leaders in Sokone One neighborhood in Arusha, Tanzania. This picture was taken on the site where we worked together to help begin building a new YL Club room, to serve the local YL ministry in Arusha Town.
"The Word became flesh & blood, and moved into the neighborhood." JOHN 1:14 |
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TRIPS to AFRICA
The Itinerary: Service & Safari
The Country or Countries we visit on a Trip will focus & depend on where there's a need & opportunity for us to go serve. The Itinerary will be centered around various Community Service Project(s), identified in order to help strengthen the relationship between YL and the local community, & will typically include a 3-4 day Group Safari at the tail end of the trip.
One specific goal will be to organize a two-week Africa Mission/Vision Trip each summer over the next few years, that includes a 6-day Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb built into the tail end of the itinerary. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest lone-standing peak in the world, & the very highest point in Africa, standing 19,457 ft above sea level. I want to assure you, however, based on my experience having climbed the mountain twice, that everyone reading this is capable of reaching the peak, given enough time to acclimatize on the trip up. Our Guides are very experienced, the best of the best, & their company has maintained around a 95% success rate getting their clients to the peak.
*Pictured Above: December 2006 -"Beyond Atlanta : Into Africa I" - Our Group with YL Tanzania Staff, Leaders, & Kids, on our very first Trip to Africa out of NW Atlanta, in December 2006, going to help train leaders & serve YL's mission in Dar Es Salaam, TANZANIA
"If you cling to your life, you will lose it, but if you give it up for me, you will find it." MATTHEW 10:39
Work Projects & Service opportunities:
- Serve as Work Crew for YL Outreach Camp, run by local YL Africa Staff & Volunteers
- Visit / Host local YL Club Event with YL Africa Staff, Kids & Leaders
- Various Work Projects, involved w/ building & maintaining recreational/sports facilities to benefit local YL outreach (eg. YL Basketball Court to attract kids, YL Office "complex" or Club "Hut", used to train & equip Volunteer Leaders)
- Housing Construction or renovation for a needy local family
- Light Construction/repair on a School Young Life is targeting for outreach ministry
- Renovation on a local Church
- Agricultural restoration, i.e. planting trees for ground water, reinforcing flood barriers, creating drainage systems
- Serving the needs at a local Orphanage, & caring for the children, many of whom are HIV orphans, left behind by parents who've died of AIDS.
- Visit local Hospital/AIDS Clinic
- Sponsor/Participate in Community Food Distribution
YL Africa Inaugural Trips: 2006 - 2009
(CLICK LINKS below to view TRIP FLYERS for more general information & details. You can also click the Photo Album links to view photos of the Trip)
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"Beyond Atlanta Into Africa I" - TANZANIA : December 12-24, 2006
* PHOTO ALBUM - December Trip 2006 *GROUP JOURNAL - Entry by Mary Wills Herman
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"Beyond Atlanta Into Africa II" - TANZANIA (+ Safari or Kilimanjaro) : July 14 - August 1, 2007
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"Beyond Atlanta Into Africa III" - TANZANIA (+ Safari or Kilimanjaro) : July 16 - August 2, 2008
*TRIP BLOG - Updates posted during our Trip
*PHOTO ALBUM - Summer Trip 2008
*PHOTO ALBUM - Kilimanjaro Climb 2008
*TRIP BLOG - Updates posted during our Trip *PHOTO ALBUM - Winter Trip 2009
*Group Roster & Prayer List
*Flight Schedule
More specific details of this SUMMER 2009 TRIP are still being confirmed. Please contact our YL Office ASAP if you're interested or would like more information. For anyone seriously thinking about it, first & foremost, I invite & want to encourage you to begin PRAYING over this unique oportunity, & about similar Trips we'll be sending to serve in Africa in the future, run out of our Area each year over Summer & Winter Break.
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here I am. Send me." ISAIAH 6:8 |
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THE HEART OF AFRICA
The HEART of AFRICA is offering us Revival, bearing the Spirit-filled life that so often, we at home have lost, that all our comfort, security, & success in this world has gradually killed & stolen from us, numbing our hearts to the weight of the reality of our utter dependence on Christ, no matter our physical or material comfort level. The Lord's radical movement across this continent today, has so much to teach us about the reality behind fallen, broken world we live in, & at the same time, the true living power of Faith, Hope, & Love, & what it means to follow Jesus... that true Joy is found in giving, over receiving... as we grow to see & better understand the world around us, through the eyes of our Heavenly Father. We believe the Lord is going to use these Trips & our relationship with Africa like an anvil, to sharpen our Faith & set fire to our hearts, over time, sweeping a tide of contagious revival across our community at home & over in Africa.
The Lord has used my every encounter with Him out on the mission field across this continent, time & time again, to humble me & bring me to my knees, flat out rocking my perspective of who He is. Although at first glimpse, at a distance, Africa may appear Poor & without hope, I'd argue that if you go beneath the surface, you'll find that Africa is Rich. Rich in Community, in Heart, & in Spirit. It's really like a giant paradox. The people have Nothing, & yet at the same time, they have Everything. Where there appears absolutely no reason left to find hope, I've found people with a joy, hope, & faith in God that is so real it's almost tangible. God's promises are simply enough. He is ALL that they need. The more time I spend around my brothers & sisters there, the more I see & learn about the heart & compassion of our Creator. Fellowship and friendships are created in this land the Lord is using right now to bring people together through Service, Suffering, Joy, and Adventure.
*Pictured: Prayer & Worship in UGANDA, with Local Young Life Staff & Volunteer Leaders, during Drew's initial pioneering trip to Uganda in November 2005.
"You have made know to me the Path of Life." PSALMS 16:10
"Come, Follow me, and I will make you Fishers of Men." MATTHEW 4:19
"They don't want our pity. They don't want our charity. Like all of us, they want to be known. Knowing each of these new friends I've met has changed me. How powerful it is to walk in someone else's shoes when they're barefoot." -JENA LEE
SPRING NEWSLETTER - May 2008
Jambo Rafikis (“Hello Friends” in Swahili) …
Wow... Wow. When I pause to reflect on how the Lord has moved over the past couple years, to bring the vision for “Beyond Atlanta”, these Trips, & our Partnership with YL Africa to life, I’m literally brought to my knees, overwhelmed by the truth of God’s faithfulness… Our 2nd trip to Africa out of NW Atlanta, set out last July with 37 people to serve in Arusha, Tanzania, on the first-ever YL Africa Trip to serve in Legho Village near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which stands 19, 430 feet above Africa. Our Team was also the first YL Group to ever climb the mountain. Needless to say, the beauty & size of Kilimanjaro certainly keeps you humble, reminding us of just how big our God truly is. His presence felt among us last summer in Tanzania, serving & worshipping together alongside our African friends, was so real it was almost tangible. God is absolutely who He says He is. Jesus is love, He is alive, and His Kingdom is coming. I’ll never forget the night we were up late worshipping with our Porters in the dinner tent, both in Swahili & English, dancing like crazy idiots up at 13,000 feet to “I’ll Fly Away”.... The 3 Trips I was involved with last summer, helped build a YL Club Room & Medical Clinic in Tanzania with the “Beyond Atlanta” Team, organized & ran an Emergency Food Distribution for hungry orphans in Zimbabwe with a group from Church of the Apostles, & served as the Work Crew for the first-ever YL outreach Camp in Uganda with another YL Team. In addition, each Group delivered YL logo gear and training materials to YL Africa staff and leaders, collected toys and school supplies to give away to local orphans, and donated sports equipment to local area YL Clubs to use to do more effective contact work.
Looking ahead to our big Trip this summer, we’re blessed to have another amazing opportunity to take 45 more people out of NW Atlanta, including a handful of high school seniors, local leaders, & staff, to return to serve & be reunited with our precious friends in Arusha, Tanzania. This year, we’ll be posting a link to this our “Trip blog” on our local YL website, where you can view updates, prayer requests, & photos we’ll be sending home each day from Arusha. Also on our website, you’ll also find a List of what we’re collecting to take with us to give away to the Orphans, Leaders, & the community in Arusha, for anyone who wants to help us. Church of the Apostles will be sending another group back to Africa this summer, returning to serve YL’s mission in Zimbabwe, where I’ll head at the end of our Tanzania Trip, to lead a Work Team out of North Carolina on my summer assignment.
General information on the program & design of our Africa Trips, along with Photos of previous Trips, is available on our website. Note that in addition to next Summer’s 2009 Trip, we’ve also begun working on plans to coordinate a Trip later this year in December, over Winter Break. Please contact our office if you’d like more information or have any questions.
I believe the truth here remains, we need Africa more than Africa needs us… Those who have been to Africa with us, may be able to help explain what I’m talking about… The Heart of Africa offers us revival & a raw perspective of the world, of our God, & of our lives, that comfort, busyness, security & success so often can steal away from us, surrounded by the culture we live in here at home, leaving us blind to the truth of the real living power of faith, hope, & love, and the abundant life that Jesus wants to offer us. The Lord continues to use our intimate encounter with Him on Africa’s missionfield, to break & humble us, bringing us to our knees, rocking our perspective of who He is, and what it costs us to follow Him. Although from a distance, Africa may appear poor & without hope, I’d argue that beneath the surface, the truth is that Africa is rich, rich in heart, spirit, relationships, & community. Truly, Africa is a land of sharing. They have Nothing, yet at the very same time, they’ve found Everything. The very place you expect there’s no chance of finding hope, you find people eager to welcome you with love, living together in close community, with a joy, hope, & faith in God that is quite literally so real it's almost tangible. God’s promises are simply enough. His love is all they need. Despite how little they may have for themselves, they always want to offer you their very, very best. The more time I’ve spent around our brothers & sisters in Africa, the more I’ve grown to learn & appreciate about the heart & deep compassion of our Creator. True joy really is found in giving more than in receiving. Fellowship and friendships are being created in this land the Lord is using today to bring people together through Service, Suffering, Joy, and Adventure. We believe the Lord will use our continued engagement in Africa, to dramatically impact the spiritual development of our Area’s Leadership across NW Atlanta, gradually transforming the landscape of our mission field in our schools here at home.
This really isn’t about Africa or Young Life. This is about the opportunity the Lord’s given us to escape our comfort zone, to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus and to learn more of the heart of God, that we might grow to learn to better love others the way He’s loved us. Our hope & prayer remains that the Lord would continue to use these Trips & our Partnership with YL Africa like an anvil, to sharpen our Faith & set fire to our hearts, stirring up a tide of contagious revival that’s already been moving to radically transform lives, sweeping all the way from Africa, across our community here at home. We want to invite you to join us & to be a part of what the Lord is doing here. Pray the Lord would use this Partnership to demonstrate the power of His love, and to reveal more of himself to our local community. Pray these Trips would leave our hearts broken with the things that break the heart of God, that He would work in us & through us to unite His Kingdom together as one body, "Bridging the Gap" across Color, Cultures, & Continents, unveiling for us His Glory. With all my heart, I believe this is only the beginning of something huge that the Lord has been moving to do among us, where we’re working to build bridges from NW Atlanta, all the way to Africa. If God is with us, who then can ever be against us.
FOR HIS GLORY,
Drew Voyles
YL Expeditions Africa Coordinator
"If you CLING to your life, you will LOSE it, but if you GIVE it up for me, you will FIND it..." MATTHEW 10:39
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LINKS to Resources on YL Africa & Mt. Kilimanjaro
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YOUNG LIFE AFRICA - WEBSITE : YL Africa's new website
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YOUNG LIFE AFRICA - MAP : A Map of where YL is on the continent right now, illustrating the Vision & direction in which the Lord is moving the Mission today.
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YOUNG LIFE AFRICA - PHOTO ALBUMS : Collection of Drew's Photos taken on trips from 2005-08, to each of the 7 Countries YL is reaching today across Africa. Each Country has it's own Album.
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YOUNG LIFE AFRICA - PRAYER REQUESTS
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YOUNG LIFE AFRICA - NEWSLETTER : Steve Larmey's monthly Newsletter, sent to supporters & prayer partners in the mission.
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YOUNG LIFE EXPEDITIONS - AFRICA TRIPS : More General Information on the typical structure / itinerary of YL's Trips to Africa.
*Pictured: MT.KILIMANJARO - Arusha, Tanzania - Looking up at "Uhuru" Peak (Swahili for "Freedom"), during Drew's family's descent Summer 2005, after reaching the peak at sunrise, standing 19,437 ft. on the "Roof of Africa".
"Be still & know that I am God. I will be exalted among nations. I will be exalted in all the earth." PSALMS 46:10
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." MATTHEW 25:40 |
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