HLC update + Sub & Yard Sale Fundraiser!

HUB LEARNING CENTER

In just ONE WEEK we will be launching our YWAM Kid's school!

Jesus answered our prayer and we have a building for our YWAM kid’s school! We will be based at Alive Church in Ephrata!

Our school is a hybrid model (2 days of homeschool and 3 days at school together). The school is named the Hub Learning Center or HLC and I will be teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade! I have nine students in my class! Please pray for each of the kids as they come that they will feel safe, loved, and have a desire to learn!

Our vision is for children to experience and walk in worship, intercession, and equip them to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and His gifts from an early age!

Here's some pictures from us working on setting up the classroom! It's still a work in progress, but it will be ready when the kid's arrive Sept 7!

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FUNDRAISING UPDATE

We have been fundraising and building our partnership team this summer and we are currently at 52% of our monthly support! Glory be to God!

We are not yet at the minimum monthly support (80%) to join staff with YWAM Lancaster, so please pray with us for people to feel led to join our monthly partnership team.

We believe God has called us into this season and role and we know He is our provider and we are dependent on him like never before!

We are having a fundraiser and we would love to have you be involved! Here’s the details!

UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS:

YARD SALE Extravaganza at YWAM Lancaster

Friday & Sat, Sept. 10-11, 8-?pm

--Many families, a tent full of furniture, something for everyone

--Food trucks on Saturday

--We are also looking for donations of items to sell if you happen to be cleaning things out

R&K Subs & Pretzel sandwiches --Order form with options is in the pictures --Pre-orders only (please message, text, or e-mail me with your order)

kaylashenk23@gmail.com

717-808-7018 --Please place orders by Wednesday, September 1 --Pick up Friday, Sept 10 at YWAM Lancaster between 9am-12pm --By donation (We are inviting you to pray and ask God how much to give) and you can give it when you pick up the subs

Please let me know if you would like to order subs/sandwiches by tomorrow (Wednesday) if possible! Thank you!

Why are we fundraising? Youth With A Mission has a relationship-based approach to missions: everyone is required to raise their own support in order to serve with the mission This means we do not receive a salary from YWAM. We are relying on God as our provider to meet our everyday needs and we are so grateful for everyone who has given financially and prayed for us this last year! THANK YOU!

If you would like to give to our family:

Online- www.ywamlancaster.com/donate

Click "Support our Missionaries"

Select Josiah & Kayla Shenk

Thank you for your love and prayers and for your partnership with what God is doing in Lancaster! We so APPRECIATE YOU!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY,

THE SHENKS

Living Our Best Lives Following Jesus...

Exciting news! Josiah and I have been accepted as staff with YWAM Lancaster!

We know that we know that we know that we are EXACTLY where we are supposed to be planted for this season and we are seeing growth in our own lives, in our community, and in the region! THANK YOU JESUS!

I just want to lead people into encounters with our Heavenly Father for the rest of my life!

[The most fulfilling place you'll ever be is right in

the center of obedience to God]

We will be stepping into our full-time role as staff the beginning of September and we are so excited to continue partnering with God as He moves in our region!

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WHAT IS OUR FAMILY VISION?

God has called our family specifically into family ministry and our vision is to create communities with healthy families that have been transformed by the power of the Gospel!

We desire to equip, train, and empower each member of the family to KNOW GOD and MAKE HIM KNOWN! One of our long-term visions is to have many schools in nations across the world for kids at risk for trafficking as well as teacher training schools to train parents and teachers to go into unreached people groups and start schools to make disciples!

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WHAT WILL OUR ROLES LOOK LIKE ON STAFF?

KAYLA'S ROLE

As a first step towards this vision, I will be apart of starting a missions driven K-8 Learning Center (two days homeschool and three days teaching on base) at the YWAM Lancaster base beginning in September! Our vision is for children to experience and walk in worship, intercession, and equip them to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and His gifts from an early age!

It’s so exciting for me because this is one step closer to our vision for Cambodia and starting schools there! We hope to build this model here and then be able to raise up teachers and replicate it to other nations to use education as missions and discipleship!

JOSIAH'S ROLE

A major assignment of YWAM Lancaster is training up young people and discipling them through our schools.

For the Fall, Josiah feels led to student staff the Discipleship Bible School, which is a three month school....

In YWAM, we have the value to “do first, then teach” so in order to staff a school, you have to first take a school as a student. So Josiah will be taking the DBS as a student alongside having staff responsibilities and discipling students.

Josiah will most likely be shifting his roles in different quarters and using his gifts in maintenance and maybe even using his culinary degree in our new food trailer at YWAM Lancaster!

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MORE ABOUT YWAM LANCASTER

The Lancaster base is just ONE of over 1,100 locations throughout the world. YWAM Lancaster is a discipleship community, catalyzing a movement of Jesus followers to fulfill the Great Commission! We prioritize a culture of worship and prayer, cultivating dependency on His word to lead us. We desire to be a hosting place for God first, then a training center. Presence priority, First commandment, First place! We live as bold, Gospel messengers to all people in every sphere of society until the whole world hears. We are focused on establishing a sustained Gospel witness in unreached locations and shaping culture for the purpose of transformation in every sphere of society!

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WHAT ARE WE DOING UNTIL WE OFFICIALLY START AS STAFF IN SEPTEMBER?

For the next eight weeks, we are on assignment from YWAM to develop our monthly financial partnership team in order to step into our role as staff!

Since YWAM's inception, the founders, Loren and Darlene Cunningham felt from the Lord that the work of each missionary, ministry, and campus should be built on the principles of "living by faith" and "support-raising". As a result, YWAM adopted a relationship-based approach to missions: everyone is required to raise their own support, primarily through enlisting the partnership of friends, family, and churches, in order to serve with the mission This means volunteers do not receive a salary from YWAM for their work with YWAM. YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham says about support raising, "It’s accountability, it’s good communication, it’s prayer support. It’s a whole lot of things, but the key goes back to relationship."

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us financially on a monthly basis?

We would love to have you join our partnership team! By partnering with God's vision, you are sowing into our family and enabling us to walk out our calling in the Kingdom and discipleship here in Lancaster and unto the nations until the whole world hears!

If you feel God leading you to join our team, here's the information on how to give...

Any gift you give is tax-deductible. You can give monthly via check, ACH, auto credit card, or auto debit card.

Online- www.ywamlancaster.com/donate

Click "Support our Missionaries"

Select Josiah & Kayla Shenk and check the reoccuring box

If you have a small business or home business, please check out our Business Partners page for more information on how you can partner with us through your business and write off the donation as an advertising expense on your Schedule C!

THANK YOU for walking this journey with us and for your prayers and love and financial support to make it possible for us to partner with what God is doing here in Lancaster! We appreciate you so much! ️

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ENCOUNTER GROUP

We are also continuing to minister and disciple young adults from the Encounter Group. This weekend we had a retreat at the new building they were gifted to use!

God moved in beautiful ways and led each of us to a new place of surrender!

Josiah and I are also hosting a small group this summer with young adults from the Encounter group to continue to disciple and build community within the Encounter group and provide a hosting place for God's presence during the week!

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We would love to set up a time together to share more about what God has been doing in Lancaster and share the vision God has given us for Lancaster and the nations!

ALL GLORY BE TO GOD FOR HE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS!

Love & Prayers,

The Shenks

Transformation & Testimonies

God is SO GOOD!

In the past 9 months, we have grown in so many ways in our relationship with Father God, our relationship with each other in marriage, and our relationships with others in community!

There were so many moments that were so hard where I wanted to give up and "go back to normal life", but I could feel the Holy Spirit carrying me and our family and our marriage through your prayers. "When we are weak, then He is strong." Thank you for walking with us through this intense season, for giving us grace, for encouraging us, and for your PRAYERS!

The biggest thing God has done in my heart during these last nine months of training with YWAM Lancaster has been a TRANSFORMATION of my mother heart! I am walking in a completely new freedom as a momma to my girls and growing as a spiritual mother to other young teens and young adults! THANK YOU JESUS!

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God has been blowing my mind with how He has been moving in Lancaster country through the simple obedience and "YES" in two broken vessels who believe God is who he says he is and just want to lead people into encounters with their Heavenly Father!

In the past nine months with YWAM Lancaster, Josiah and I have had the absolute privilege of leading 26 people into a new relationship with JESUS!

ALL GLORY BE TO GOD! The harvest is ready in Lancaster county and America is ready for the GOSPEL!

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BOSTON OUTREACH

YWAM Lancaster sent out four teams to different locations in the Northeast for one week in June and WE WENT TO BOSTON!

During our week in Boston:

*God healed 3 different people’s knees!!

*Our team prayed for or shared the gospel one-on-one with over 52 people!

*We ministered with the YWAM Boston DTS students on their Encounter Tour last night here in Boston and I got to lead a precious 17 year old girl to Jesus!! (Testimony BELOW) AND 6 other teenagers gave their lives to Jesus

BOSTON SALVATION TESTIMONY

I met this teenage girl before the show and sat with her and during the ministry time I got to pray with her. The Holy Spirit began to reveal to me some things from her past, so we invited Jesus to come into that pain and minister to her. She felt the comfort and presence of Jesus and heard him say in her spirit, “I’m never going to leave you!”

We were both crying and I asked her if she ever gave her life to Jesus and she said no. I asked her if she wanted to, and she said YES!!

So I got to lead this precious girl to JESUS!! She felt Jesus forgive her and then we prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and she felt His tangible presence in her hand

Then as I continued praying over her, the Holy Spirit started revealing some more things and as I began praying those things out in faith, she began to cry and Jesus came in to the pain of the memory and we prayed together to surrender the pain to Jesus and break off a spirit of rejection. After we prayed, she said the pain of the memory completely left her and she was SET FREE!

THAT’S MY JESUS!!

RESCUER. REDEEMER. COMFORTER. HEALER. SAVIOR!

There is absolutely NOTHING better then reconnecting someone to their Heavenly Father ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!

One of our team member's sisters put this Highlight video together from our outreach in Boston!

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Another Local Outreach Testimony...

Josiah got the most amazing gift for his birthday from Daddy God!

Every Friday eve we have outreach with YWAM and one Friday our team felt God leading us to go to the Pagoda in Reading and pray! We got there close to Sunset and there was close to 100 people there hanging out, so we split into teams and asked God to lead us to show us who to talk to and share Jesus with.

Josiah felt led to go up to a group of young adults who were smoking out of a Hookah. He boldly went up and started conversation and then told them he would love to pray with anyone who wanted prayer. Then he walked to the side and one of the guys came and said they wanted him to pray for all of them! Josiah grabbed some other of the teammates and they went over and Josiah ended up preaching the simple gospel and the whole group prayed to give their lives to Jesus! it was one of the girls in the group birthday too! BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER!!

JESUS IS WORTHY of every nation and every soul!

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ENCOUNTER YOUTH GROUP

THIRTEEN youth from our Encounter Youth group were baptized in June! It’s been such an honor walking with this group the past 5 months and seeing Jesus transform their lives!

Almost all of their Amish families were there to celebrate with them and it was such a beautiful picture of heaven all coming together as the body of Christ!

*Please pray for each of the 13 youth and for their families to continue to walk in the presence of God and walk in his ways.

*Please also pray for the Encounter group that each one would know God’s incredible love for them and find freedom and healing in him!

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WE GRADUATED FROM OUR SCHOOL OF MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT on June 24 and we have exciting news to share about our next season! I will send out another update next week after some more details are finalized!

Thank you so much for every prayer you have prayed on our behalf.

Thank you for every text, message, comment, and encouragement you have given us in our season of training. You lifted up our arms when we were weak and enabled us to do what God was calling us to do through your prayers and your financial gifts!

THANK YOU.