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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 INTO AFRICA"
YL Northwest Atlanta + YL Africa Partnership
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 5 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, Sierra Leone, Mali, & Zimbabwe are on YL Africa's MAP, & we're praying right now that Rwanda & the Congo might soon be next. Back in September of 2006, 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 new "BEYOND ATLANTA" pilot 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, has centered 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 AFRICA 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 am working directly 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, leading communities from across the U.S. to go serve in Africa. 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, YL Expeditions Africa
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TRIP VIDEO (Click Link) - "Beyond Atlanta Into Africa V"
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*Pictured Above: Summer 2008 - "Beyond Atlanta : Into Africa III" - 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
Beyond Atlanta Into Africa Trips:
Summer 2012
Tanzania: July 14-July 28
"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
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LINKS - Other Resources on YL Africa & Mt. Kilimanjaro
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YL AFRICA EXPEDITIONS - WEBSITE : More General Information on the typical structure / itinerary of YL's Trips going to serve in Countries across Africa. The YLX Africa Office is based out of NW Atlanta.
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YLX AFRICA NEWSLETTER - Winter 2010
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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.
*Pictured: MT.KILIMANJARO - Arusha, Tanzania - Our Team of 31 People in 2008, infront of"Uhuru" Peak (Swahili for "Freedom"), standing 19,437 ft. above 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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