Newark was founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony. They bought the property from the Hackensack Indians by exchanging gunpowder, 100 bars of lead, 20 axes, 20 coats, guns, pistols, swords, kettles, blankets, knives, beer, and 10 pairs of breeches. The colonists sought to establish strict church rules, and settlers decided that a community reflecting that task should be named "New Ark."  

Newark has always been a city of immigrants, and today it is multi-cultural: 52% Black, 30% Hispanic, and 14% White. It is located approximately five miles west of Manhattan and two miles north of Staten Island, NY. Newark Bay's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean contributes to its status as the major container shipping port for New York Harbor. 

Across several administrations, city leaders accepted 100% federal funding for housing projects. Eventually, Newark had a higher percentage of its residents in public housing than any other American city. Certain pockets of the city developed as domains of poverty and social isolation. Of Newark's 273,546 inhabitants, 28.4% live below the poverty line.

Newark has been rated one of the most dangerous cities in America, but it is a place that Jesus would visit to impart His limitless grace, mercy, and love. AIM partners with World Impact to do children's ministry in the projects and parks, and at the base. Teams also serve at soup kitchens and share Christ at a New York City rescue mission.  

World Impact's original Bible club ministry in 1976 has expanded to include Newark Christian School, a summer day camp/learning center, and home church plants. AIM teams come alongside to help.

Community Life:training & apprenticeship for Christ-followers

One year of growth, community, and ministry.

We're excited to introduce a new opportunity that many of you will love.  We're taking our best coaches and disciplers and matching them up for a year with our most passionate young people (up to age 31). At Adventures In Missions (AIM), we love the next generation. We want to see people launched into a whole new way of doing life. In a culture that esteems independence, we want to restore the value of interdependence that was so prevalent in the Early Church. By living in authentic community, disciples of Jesus learn how to be "salt" and "light" in a way that transforms the world around them. It's a year of training and apprenticeship in community.

Community Life is a place where you can continue to grow in your identity and role in the kingdom of God. The people of AIM will pour into you during this year in a number of ways. Our leaders will train you and hang out with you. We'll help you sharpen your life focus and call to ministry and even help you develop your skill sets. We provide housing in Gainesville, GA, where a select group of 30 young people will live together in several houses in a neighborhood with easy access to the surrounding community. There are five major aspects involved in Community Life: 

·       Mentoring: As part of creating a personal development plan, you will be paired up with a leader at AIM that will regularly meet one-on-one with you and provide coaching, encouragement, and discipleship. Seth Barnes and Scott Borg will guide a team of top leaders as we return to discipleship as Jesus practiced it.  This includes intensive teaching to help you understand your past, who you are in Christ, and how to move forward in the plan God has for your life and ministry. You will work on your own, in small group settings, and with some of the most experienced and inspirational mentors AIM has to offer.

·       Skill development: You will expand your life skills. Many of you will have an internship in the office in an area such as recruiting, marketing, creative writing/editing, media, missions mobilization, web design, or program development.  Your internship will be tailored to develop your passion.  It's an opportunity to develop valuable work skills through hands-on training.

·       Ministry: In order to stay connected with ministry, we've partnered with a local outreach to the 60,000 marginalized Hispanics in and around Gainesville. It is important to us that you continue to be exposed to the poor and have the opportunity to engage in hands-on ministry.  We'll also partner with a camping and sports ministry.

·       Travel: To continue engaging in different cultures and learning about God's heart for the nations, we'll provide you with opportunities for travel to put into practice what you have learned.  In addition there may be a summer opportunity to lead various discipleship programs for high school and college students around the world. You will be able to call others to a life of sacrifice and to fulfilling the Great Commission.  In the future, we'll plant new leadership training bases in places like Spain and Africa with our colleagues Andrew Shearman and Gary Black and partner with them in developing those training centers.

·       Sample apprenticeships: Recruiting Team, Marketing Team, Multimedia ministry, discipleship ministry coordination, short-term mission project coordination, and many others. You will have the opportunity to use your gifts in mobilizing people for God's kingdom.

For more information: click here

To apply, click hereto fill out a Quick App. 

If you are an AIM alumni, please call 1-800-881-2461 ext. 270 or email SerenaLivingston@adventures.org

Hello Friends, Family, Brothers and Sisters in Jesus!

Well, the summer season is behind us and Chris has returned from over three weeks in Nicaragua following the Lord's leading.  Chris and I thought we would have some down time to reset after a long summer but...not to be!

We received word that we needed to move from our place in Marietta, Georgia because of an ordinance change in the county where we resided.  We needed to make the move soon so we dug in and found a house to rent in Gainesville (about 3 miles from work and 1.5 hours from the city).   We are once more back in the country side although we didn't realize the extent of the compassion the Lord has given to us for urban areas...we now find ourselves missing the city and longing for the work the Lord has us doing there.

After the move was finished, Dar and Bill left for Harlan, Kentucky.  AIM has it's Appalachia base in Harlan and a group from Wisconsin was coming down for a week long mission project.  While I was in Harlan, not only did we participate in the mission project, but I conducted Mission leader training for three individuals from around the country who will soon be leading mission trips for AIM.  It was a great week and I learned much about poverty in our own country.  Please pray for those in the Appalachias that have need for their need truly is great.

Dar and I returned from Kentucky the last part of October.  A couple days after our return, the whole family was packed up and heading to Central Wisconsin.  In Wisconsin we visited family as well as churches and individuals that have been partnering with our ministry, although I am the first to admit that we did not get to see everyone that we wished to see (but hope to the next trip up!)

In addition to visiting, Chris and I participated in the Nightmare ministry at Believer's Church in Marshfield Wisconsin.  If you are not familiar with the Nightmare, it is hard to describe in a nutshell but here is my attempt anyway:  The Nightmre ministry is held on the weekends each year in the month of October.  It is a Hollywood quality, walk through, in your face production that highlights the top killers of teens in this country today including Suicide, gang violence, alcohol abuse and drug abuse.  Individuals are shown the destructive behaviors and the eternal consequences of a lifestyle in sin.  At the end of the Nightmare, participants are also shown the eternal sacrifice made by Christ and the gift God extends to all of us.

It is a powerful ministry that saw over 10,000 persons come through this year with over 600 life dedications to Jesus Christ -  AWESOME!

Chris and I also spent two days in Chicago as Chris did "Setup" for the 2008 Missions season in that city.  She met with various church and ministry partners to ensure that our missionaries would have housing next year and to identify various ministry outreach and community needs.

Well, we are back now in Gainesville.  Bill is working on drafting updates to the Mission Leaders manual for 2008 as well as church missions training material development.  Chris is continuing with her Setup responsibilities in various locations and homeschooling the kids as well.  We hope to have a few weeks at home before the LORD sends us somewhere else...

We'll see!

Blessings!

This trip was a blessing as well as an incredible mission opportunity. We were blessed with leaders with such servant hearts. Bill and Chris did so much behind the scenes work. I appreciate their hard work. You could just see their loving heart and sensitivity to the needs of the host Pastor family as well as the team. I felt blessed by the team unity and how everyone worked together. It was incredible to come and work alongside a church in another culture, experience their worship, ministry, their needs and their hearts for God and for the community.

- Amber Mitchell

This trip was an amazing blessing to me! Our whole team was very unified and some of us came not part of a group. We all worked well together and it was awesome how Chris and Bill gave us all the levels of AIM's vision for the trip. Felt needs, Relationship Building, Prayer, Worship and listening and hearing God. I look forward to another "Adventure" for Jesus. I will miss our leaders Chris and Bill and all those who I served with and ministered to.

- Melissa Honour




Playing soccer with the local youth was one of the first opportunities we had to connect with people in Santa Cruz. I thought it was a fantastic idea. VBS was extremely successful in terms of drawing the locals to the church to provide opportunities to impact both the children and their parents with words of life, hope, truth, love and vision for how much more is really available to them in the "here and now" as well as eternity. I'm thankful to God for the raising up ministries like AIM to provide people like me with a glimpse of what missions are all about. I'm thankful for a clear vision of what God may have prepared for me in the future.

- Justin Bellars




This trip was excellent! Bill and Chris were very flexible with their schedule and accomodated our needs very well. The trip details were well organized and their were no signs of stress or discord that detracted from the reason we were all on the trip. We all had an amazing time and we had lots of great storiesabout our trip to share with others. We had great opportunities to demonstrate who Christ is to others, share our faith with others (including ourselves) and to help the church with its vision to reach the people of Santa Cruz. It was such a great pleasure to be able to felloowship and worship with others. It has been the best experience of my life. The Vacation Bible School was well attended and you could see the excitement growing everyday on the childrens faces. I had never prayed for people as they received Christinto their hearts before and it was truly amazing to experience that. I could feel the spirit move every time we were praying with someone and for each other. The chemestry of the group was totally amazing. It was a blessing to see how each one of us brought different gifts and how we were all able to find our place and fill the needs of the group. God used us to show His glory and He also showed us that He is in Santa Cruz and is working to reach the people here. I could see the appreciation in the eyes of the childrenfor the attention; I could feel the love for Jesus when we talked to people at their houses. It was a blessing to be here, to meet who we met and share what we shared.

- Kimberly Whitted




Bless the Lord for assembling this team and for our gracious leaders... Good energy made challenges bearable. Feels like much of a difference was made and a movement has been started.

- MaDiana Diaz




It is my sincere hope that I have been as much of an impact on the people of Santa Cruz and La Iglesic Metodista as they have been on me. I believe that I have grown closer to God in every moment of my time on this mission trip. From the first night we had a worship service and the Lord led me to lead in the singing, something I had never done before, I knew that this would be an awesome experience. Witnessing the church service, it was a gift to return to the basics of praising God. When pastor Victor laid his hands on me and prayed for me, I could feel the Holy Spirit working through him. Interacting with the people of Santa Cruz has been a life changing experience for me. Being able to play a game of soccer, share meals, and just talk with people brought joy to my heart. Providing a VBS for the local children was an exilarating adventure. I thank God for the opportunity to utilize the abilities that He provided me to minister to the youth of this community. I truly believe that it is through the children that this church and community can flourish in the love and word of God. My experiences on this trip have been some of the most meaningful and fruitful blessings of my walk with Christ. Due in large part to the wonderful members of this mission team. I can't imagine being surrounded by a more loving and supportive group of christians than the life-long friends I have had the pleasure to meet and be disciples with throughout this mission trip.

Dios le bendiga
- Michael Hundley

Phil! Phil is not his real name of course. Often homeless people choose a different name. Phil is in recovery. He had a heart attack. Homeless but not alone. Phil is with friends who are like family.

Brian Haitz as he leads worship for the homeless in Atlanta at SafeHouse. SafeHouse provides physical and spiritual food to those who call the streets their home. Brian has a gift and a passion to lead worship. We were blessed to have him on our team.

Down Town Freddy Brown is what Freddy likes to be known as. Freddy is going home to his family after being homeless and separated. Freddy has been a big part of our ministry. He enjoys protecting us. We love you Freddy!

Eddie! Eddie is quiet but really sweet. He likes to approach people slowly. We enjoy engaging Eddie in conversations.

Pete and Jackie glow when they see us come in the door. Who says you can't live on love?? They are homeless and all they have are each other.

Bob Howard has over 20 years of street outreach experience working with gangs and prostitutes on the Atlanta streets. Bob has poured his time into our ministry and shares our goal of reaching out to those on the streets. Bob is truly a man of God.

The following was contributed by a young man who was in Atlanta this past June to do outreach as a participant on a mission project led by Chris and I.

This trip has changed my life more than anything I have ever experienced. Before I came here, I DID NOT want kids at all, but that is a major change that has happened throughout this week and God is the one that made it all possible. The vacation bible school was amazing, I have to say. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out and getting to play games with the kids. It let me get to know them and learn to care more about them each day. The walks in the park and getting to talk to the people there were very inspirational, just being able to see what God had done in their lives and to hear them speak from their hearts about their beliefs and even getting to lead some of them to Jesus. As well, we got to hear some of their stories. The people that work at Blood and Fire (Sylvester, Pete, Freddie, AIM - Bill & Chris P.) are amazing and incredible people and there really isn't many of them out there right now. It's just a really great feeling to be able to see the love and the holiness. Going to Safe House and serving the homeless was a great experience, you get to make a lot of new friends as well as the people who work there and the people who worship God. The sports ministries were very fun getting to play with the kids on all the playgrounds. Seeing the kids on the swings and slides were great. I guess mostly this week has really opened my eyes to God and it's an incredible feeling. I'm not walking away from this empty handed. It's impossible to come here and see and experience the love of God in this place and the love that these people (Blood n' Fire and Adventures in Missions) have for everyone and to just be able to leave here without gaining anything. The greatest part of this trip was to be able to be around these people of God, and even if you aren't sure if you have your faith or not you leave here with it. I have to say I recommend that if you get a chance to come you don't pass this life changing experience up. If you truly want to have a God experience and experience his love, this is defiantly the place to come.

-Blake Contreras

Hello!   The past six weeks have come and gone as we make the final preparations for the summer season in short term missions.   Most of the mission staff have been recruited and given their assignments, now its training time!

Several of us from AIM will be in New Orleans for the first week of June training approximately 50 summer staffers.   These individuals will be servant leaders of short term projects in places such as New Orleans, Kentucky Appalachia, Mexico, Biloxi Mississippi, Washington D.C., Kansas City, and other locations.   We are so excited to have the opportunity to minister to these servants of the LORD who in turn will go out and minister to hundreds of short term missionaries.   They, in turn, will serve and share Jesus with thousands of others!   GLORY BE TO GOD!

What a great start to the summer!   Following our return from New Orleans, our family will be leading another short term mission project in Atlanta beginning June 16.   We can't wait!

Upon completion of that project, Chris and I will be leaving to lead a short term project in Santa Cruz, Costa Rica beginning June 27.   The LORD has placed Latin America on our hearts (Costa Rica in particular).

  On July 28 the family will once again lead a short term project in downtown Atlanta.  

The summer is flying by already!!

We will highlight these mission projects over the next two newsletters, so hold on tight!

At home, the kids are wrapping up their school year (can you hear the cheers?) and will be receiving certificates of completion from a local home schooling group this year.  

The current quarter of Street Reach is almost complete (where did that go?) and so many young people have been impacted with the love of Christ.   Praise God for StreetReach and all those serving!

Adventures in Missions is a church mobilizing, training, and discipleship ministry disquised as a short term missions agency.  What does that mean?

ONE of the many things AIM attempts to accomplish in its short term missions program is to allow the opportunity for the LORD to use, stretch, and bring out of the comfort zone anyone participating on the project.  Many of the participants will come with the intention to minister and meet needs (which they do) but many soon realize that the LORD is also doing a work inside them as well. 

My family and I just came off of a project in Atlanta, Georgia and the following is the highlights and quotes from the participants themselves:

Trip Reflections and Quotes

4/15/2007  By: Varied

Crossroads Christian Youth Center-  Big Rock, Illinois

This missions trip was an awesome experience for me. It stretched me in ways I didn't know I could be stretched. It put us right on the front line of spiritual warfare, and with God's help we pulled through and mad a huge impact. - Oakley Hallstrom Atlanta rocked, for sure. I had been praying God would open my heart and mind along with the beautiful people coming with and those already down there. Seeing what the kids live with and being with them each day was tiring but super impactful for both parties. Before I got there I didn't even want to leave - decisions at home are no fun - but God did some patchwork on my heart. I thought evangelizing wasn't my thing but it totally is. God's totally my thing! Forever, I'll be praising His name. - Rachel Lettman Isaiah 30:18 "Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to Him, so He can show you His love; He will conquer you to bless you just as He said. For the Lord is faithful to His promises, blessed are all those who wait for Him to help them." I came on this missions trip thinking that I would minister to other people (which I did) but more than anything - God ministered to me. He drew me so close to Him that I dropped all of my stress & worries on Him. But towards the end I felt like there was a wall up & I couldn't get past it and through to Him. I've never felt so hungry for Him in all my life. I just hope that as my walk with Him continues that the wall will break down and I'll get closer to Him. Mostly, at the end of the day I just want Him to be pleased with me. - Jessica Erhart All my life God has only challenged me to change things about myself to be ready to serve Him. But this was time for seeing if I had made those changes, to see if I would follow His will for me. This was my first missions trip. I will never forget the things God has revealed to me. - Cassie Brue I find myself now comparing me in this past's weeks experiences to Stretch Armstrong. The extremeties and torso (I believe) were extremely stretchable. During this trip I was challenged numerous times in sharing my faith in Christ. I learned that I had much more than I thought. I had to learn about my God, my world and myself. I would say, actually that I have been expanded rather than stretched, because there needs to be resistance for stretching to happen. The amazing thing was that I was excited to receive these challenges. If this makes sense, I enjoyed being removed from my comfort zone. So, I guess that is why I would say that I was expanded in my evangelism abilities rather than stretched. It was a sweet week with God, and I expect many, many more. Now, though I've been reminded that so many of God's children either do not have a relationship with His Son or they have no idea that they should even have one. - Timmy Tokars This missions trip truly challenged me. From day one I was forced to step out of my comfort zone and trust God and His will. Trusting God fully has always been a challenge. Along with that I learned not to rely on my own strength but the strength of God. Although doing so took persecution and heartbreak. Atlanta was an eye opening experience. - Brittany Zabel I have done ministry like this before at Bible College. But nothing this intense. God stretched me this week. I feel like I took another step forward in my faith. I have been thinking a lot about going into full time ministry. I felt the Lord calling me into youth/college ministry this week. All the kids on this trip have such a love for the Lord. It was awesome to see them grow in their faith this week. I am excited to see what the Lord has for my future in ministry. - B.J. Marland Challenging, stretching, eye-opening somehow these words still can't describe this trip completely. I definitely learned a lot about obedience on this trip and to do what God tells you or you're gonna regret it and have to live with it for the rest of your life. I had to do things on this trip I had never done before and it was scary sometimes, but I realized that if you want something awesome or out of the ordinary to happen, sometimes you have to take a step out in faith and God will pull through. I learned that you really have to give EVERYTHING to God and let Him dominate you. All the sharing of my faith with people this week has made me excited to get back home and talk to people and make sure I am doing God's will. - Lily Hallstrom Proverbs 3:5-6 talks about trusting the Lord with all your heart, not in yourself and if you do this He will direct your path. This verse has been something I've always struggled with. This trip had taught me what "with all your heart" truly means. I gave God full control which is hard for a control freak like me. I did things that would normally cause massive amounts of stress without giving them a second thought because I knew it was what God wanted. I also learned that the closer you are to Christ, the harder the devil tries to pull you away. I act off of gut feelings a lot and never felt such a spiritual battle being fought inside. I praise God because He showed me how to tell the difference and know what the right thing to do is. - Joshua Boyd This was my first mission trip and I didn't know what we would do but as the week went on I learned so much. God took me out of my shell and showed me to rely on Him more and I had a blast this week. - Nate Ament This missions trip was a life-changing experience. I really realized how much I take for granted I get upset sometimes if I don't get a shirt or shoes that I want. So after seeing so many people who don't even have houses it just really opened my eyes. It also showed me how the spirit works in you. I know I talked to a couple girls, and I didn't even think about what to say, it just flowed out. It was amazing. - Cassie Kroner I've been on a few missions trips before - but this one stretched me in ways I've never been stretched before. I learned to perservere through persecution that totally broke my heart. I didn't let the devil win that battle! The children of Atlanta touched my heart and made me realize how truly blessed I am. I will forever keep them in my prayers. - Sarah Hammond This trip to Atlanta was truly a blessing. It stretched me a lot in sharing my faith. I've felt God calling me to ministry ever since last years mission trip. I always felt urban ministry was what I should go into. I would love to work with youth. Yet this trip made me realize a bigger problem - false doctrine. I came to realize false teaching starts at the churches a majority of people attend down south. I am now praying and seeing if God would want me to be a pastor at a church down in Atlanta or somewhere else. - Jonathon Boyd I think everything went right just so I was able to go on this trip. I went to crossroads the week before the trip and people were saying I should go because Ryan decided not to go. Doug talked to me for about a half and hour about the trip and honestly I really didn't feel like going. But I called in the morning and was able to go. This week was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. It was a life changing experience because it was my first mission trip, my first time sharing my faith and my first time leading someone to Christ. The highlight of my whole week was leading Alex Weaver to Christ on the last day. He didn't ever seem to comprehend what I was saying and didn't ever want to ask Christ into His heart. On the last day I pulled him aside by myself and just really tried to explain to him again about accepting Christ. He finally paid attention and understood what I was saying and accepted Christ. This trip was very stretching and just a good overall trip. - Jess Magee I went into the missions trip with a bad attitude, I really didn't want to do street evangelism. I'm not much for walking up to random people and asking them if they believe in Jesus. By the second day we went out I just thought I can do this, they are just people and if I feel stupid it is not like I'm ever going to see them again. So by the last day I went up to anyone and struck up a conversation. I talked to lots of different people and most of them were saved. But I walked out with an upbeat attitude and said that I would be able to talk to anyone. - Jake Meziere On this trip I have learned that one person can make a difference, not because of the power of that person but because of the power of Christ. I have spent so much time in prayer and gone through a lot of crap on this trip and I realized God has infinite strength and because I can get strength through the father so do I. I also realized that the business of life has nothing to do with focus. I can focus on God at school, work or home. Christ should be in everything I do. I need to spend as much time with the father as I can. He will help me overcome any problem and my sin. Christ is the undefeated champ. In Him we will always have the victory. - Travis Hartman Going on this trip I really did not know what to expect. I had been on a missions trip before, but it was more service based, rather than strictly evangelizing like this trip. At the beginning of the week I was kind of frustrated because the kids at VBS were crazy and I was not obedient to God. Day 2 was a night and day difference from Day 1. The kids listened at VBS and I was able to share my faith with a few people on the MARTA. Throughout the week, I really grew close to a couple of kids named Tony and Nadia. Being with these kids and seeing how interested they were in learning was really encouraging to me. All in all I am glad that I came on this trip because I was stretched big time in faith and I really grew spiritually. - Ross Magee What a week! Before the trip I really didn't want to go for 2 reasons. One was because my best friend backed out and decided not to go on the trip. The other on being that the trip would consume my entire break. Luckily we have an awesome God who helped me have an insane week full of things that stretched me spiritually and helped me get closer to Him. It was just crazy how quickly God changed my heart and gave me the best week of my life. - Kyle Burks This week was awesome. This week was really stretching and hard. I learned to rely on God's strength and not my own. The whole week I was praying and reading my Bible more that I have any other week. This week was amazing. - Joel Carlson This trip helped me with a lot of things. One of was that God showed me to go and tell about what Jesus did. It felt so good when Joel and I led two kids to Christ at Turner Field. - Michael Schindlebeck

Project Reflection

4/8/2007  By: Cambria County Christian School

Cambria County Christian School

Adventures in Missions has given us many challenges over the week, and God has brought us through these challenges. The best part of this experience was the bonding that occurred with the children from our Bible School. It's funny how we thought "we" came to minister, but in the end we were the ones who were ministered to. It's awesome to see the children react to the songs and the Bible lessons each day. The most touching moment is how many children have accepted Christ as their Saviour in the week that we have been there. The challenges of being socially backward didn't seem like a problem we would be facing. We soon learned that talking to a stranger on the MARTA (public rail transportation), handing out free water on a hot afternoon, and talking to a stranger in the park were challenging and strengthening our faith. Once we overcame these challenges and became obedient to GOD, the blessings were overwhelming.

What God is Doing through me

4/8/2007  By: Varied, Participants

Cambria County Christian SchoolPA

God is teaching me to step out of my comfort zone. I find that when I listen to his voice and step out, the reward is always great! Kara Gillin Right now, God is teaching me to be grateful for everything I have, especially love. Working with the children, I see how they yearn for love. It's really awesome to teach them of God's love. -Jillian Raslevich This week has challenged me in ways that I didn't even expect it to. I feel that I have learned so much more than I have offered, and I am eternally grateful. -Dora Richey I feel that this trip has taken my breath away with the experiences that I have gone through and the lessons that I have been taught. -Ashley Kirkwood God is working in my life right now in many ways. I'm learning to be grateful for the people in my life and for everything I have. God has also brought me out of my comfort zone this week more than any other time in my life. I really love all the ministry we've been doing this week. It has been a really awesome week for me. -Shauna Mosley God is showing me that the little children love to learn about Jesus. I love seeing their face light up when they say their memory verse. -Briana Maykovich God is really challenging me to be completely obedient to Him and surrender my own desires to do what He wants. Whether it's sharing my faith or simply holding a little child, God is showing me that my sole focus should be to share the love of Jesus. This week has taught me so much about ministry and being sensitive to God's leading. -Stephanie Ciner