If God is your Father, please call home!

God's idea of prayer is not a ritual, but loving and lively communication between a father and his beloved children.

But sad to say, most people don't think they can talk to God like that. Some think they're not religious enough, not righteous enough, or not spiritual enough. Some think He's too big, too far above them. Some think He's too busy to be concerned about them and their problems, which they think must seem awfully petty to Him. Some feel unworthy, not good enough. Some feel guilty or ashamed about things they've done. Some are even afraid of Him. If only they understood how differently God sees it!

God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us, and He wants it to be the deepest, most meaningful, most fulfilling and rewarding, most natural part of our lives. Now that's not to say He wants to take away from the other relationships and activities that we enjoy and consider important. To the contrary, He wants to be a part of all that. He wants to make our day-to-day living easier, He wants to give the things we experience greater meaning, and He wants to enjoy them with us. In a word, He wants to make our lives better. He wants to add a wonderful new dimension to all that we do—the dimension of His loving presence. --By Julie Vasquez

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there….and don’t forget to spend some quality time with your Heavenly Father too.

Excerpts taken from June issue of the Activated magazine
Read the latest issue here or subscribe here

Members of AYM participated in this year’s
local National Day of Prayer

Pictured here are Jon (far left) and Gabe (second from right), with Coordinator of the local National Day of Prayer, Mayor Susan Narvaiz, and co-coordinator, longtime San Marcos educator Sarah Lesak.

Look on the bright side -- A spiritual exercise

Life is seldom problem free, and it seems that many of our problems involve the people closest to us—family members, co-workers, neighbors, and others with whom we interact on a regular basis. Even if those people aren’t the cause of our problems, they are affected by our reactions to them. If we are in the habit of reacting negatively, that can sour life and relationships faster than almost anything else.

One of the secrets to both happiness and success with people is to not allow the relatively small problems and irritations of daily life to cast large shadows. Helen Keller hit on that truth when she said, “Keep your eyes to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.” The apostle Paul was more specific when he said, “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (1 Philippians 4:8)

For the next couple of weeks, why not take a few minutes each night to reflect on your day?

• What were the high points and low points?
• Did you thank God for the highs?
• How could you have reacted better to the lows by looking on the bright side?

There’s something to be gained from even the worst situations if you look for it. By recasting the events of your day in a more positive light, you condition yourself to react more positively in the future.

How to Build a Better World in One Simple Step

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone would simply do what Jesus said to do--love our neighbors as ourselves? (Matthew 22:39). But when people don't treat others with much love, they're going to have problems-and they do! It can safely be said that all of the evils in the world today have their root cause in people's lack of love for God and each other. Nevertheless, the simple love of God and each other is still God's solution, even in such a complex, confused and highly complicated society as that of the world today. If we love God, we can love and respect each other. We can then follow His rules of life, liberty, and the possession of happiness, and all will be well and happy in Him.

So let's ask God to help us love our neighbors with His love. And remember, "neighbor" doesn't only mean the one who lives next door. It is anyone we meet who needs our help, regardless of race, creed, color, or nationality.

Introducing Josiah McDonald—a talented young man with vision and determination.

Josiah is Activated Youth Ministries latest addition, and will be spending the next six months training with us, before moving to Cyprus where he plans to assist an existing work in their job of reaching Cyprus with the Gospel.

"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is—where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge." -- Robert C. Shannon

"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- Hudson Taylor

Imagine it’s Spring Break and you and 14 of your friends load up camping gear, sleeping bags, and a whole bunch of literature for a road trip to South Padre Island, the ultimate "Spring-breakers" paradise.

Imagine meeting up with a bunch more friends from surrounding cities, making you a 35 person strong team ready to "hit" it hard, with sunscreen in one hand and tracts in the other. The weather is gorgeous, the beaches are beautiful and covered with thousands of young people from all over the States.

Imagine spending your day light hours passing out tracts, witnessing, and playing guitar on the beach and your evenings doing Bible classes and more personal witnessing with the many people coming to check out your big, red ex-school-bus-turned “prophet bus”. And then imagine going home 4 days later with 2,000 tracts distributed, hundreds of people personally witnessed to, and 137 people having prayed with you to receive Jesus as their savior. Been there, done that--and let me tell you it is a blast!

This trip was possibly the most inspiring, motivating, and challenging one yet, and we’re looking forward to many more.

Three of our volunteers are participating in the 2009 semester of the Professional Missionary Academy.

The PMA provides participants with experience and training that will help them to counsel and aid others. Students learn to help others improve their lives through the knowledge of God's love and Word, and to in turn provide spiritual assistance to those around them.

By focusing on inner change, which then results in outer change, a chain reaction will be sparked which can bring about lasting improvement in a community. This is a plan for progress in today's world that makes a difference where it counts the most.

Click on the PMA logo to visit their website

If you would like to sponsor one of the students please email: contact@aymhome.com

After 6 years of working with us Chris Pair (Crit) has made the decision to move to South Africa where he plans to live and work to further the cause in that region. His dedication over the years has been a huge part of our success in reaching so many with the love of Christ, and we’re sure that he will be a huge help in Africa as well.

“God had only one Son and he made that Son a missionary.” -- David Livingston

"God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him" -- Hudson Taylor

You will surely be missed, Crit, and our love and prayers go with you.

Over the last several months we’ve been so busy with the all there is to do that we haven’t had the time to update you all on our recent happenings. But here’s a little recap of 2008.

We started out the beginning months of 2008 with several meetings, planning, and strategizing on how to do the most we possibly could to win the world for Jesus. We used this time to set long and short terms goals, discuss how to be more professional in our outreach, follow-up, etc, but we also dedicated a large portion of our times together to prayer. We believe strongly in the old quote: “prayer is not the least you can do, but the most”, and we were able to see the Lord do mighty miracles as we did our part in prayer.

Mid-March Several of us visited South Padre Island for “Spring break”. It was an awesome life-changing experience and a complete success with thousands of tracts passed out, lives changed, souls saved, and all of us returning home with a renewed inspiration to win the world for Jesus.

April & May were two months filled with witnessing both locally as well as several trips to Dallas, where we visited friends and raised funds for future projects. We also volunteered in the Real Ale ride, which was a lot of fun and a way to help out our local community.

June was a month that we focused a lot on our present building project, a cabin to accommodate volunteers as well as our many missionary visitors who often pass through en-route to Mexico or other mission fields. We also had Ken and Carol Paone join our center to work fulltime in evangelistic work.

July & August saw us focusing more on our music ministry with Plan of Attack doing some shows in San Antonio. July also brought the kick-off of the Professional Missionary Academy (PMA)—a course which provides participants with training to counsel and aid others. One of our volunteers mentored students, while 3 others attended the 3 month course. They say their lives will never be the same and we’re excited to see the training put to use in our area.

Through September and October we focused more on the Austin/San Marcos area, attending the Austin City Limits music festival where we passed out tracts and were also able to get into a deeper witness with several people. We met many sweet people through these months in particular, and several have expressed a desire to join us in our goal of reaching the world.

November and December were memorable months for all of us, as we took advantage of this wonderful season where people stop a little more to think about Jesus. Each member really gave their all this year, whether Christmas caroling or participating in fundraisers, often working double time. Even some of the volunteers children helped out too, performing locally to cheer up the elderly, with singing, dancing, puppets and more. We can truly say that this year’s Christmas season was the most productive yet. We witnessed more than ever, passed out the message more than ever, led more people to the Lord then ever, and were able to still relax and spend time reflecting on the real meaning and reason for it all—Jesus.