Church Relations
Collaborating with You
Adventist Young Professionals (AYP) strives to be a collaborator and supporter of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s divisions, unions, conferences, missions, and local churches. Each month, a memo is sent via email to conference, mission, union, division, and GC youth/young adult directors to keep them informed of the plans and progress of AYP as well as to provide them with the opportunity to share feedback and council to the AYP leadership team.
Furthermore, the AYP president meets individually with 4-6 conference, mission, union, or division, youth directors each month to hear their needs, ideas, and feedback, and to strategically explore opportunities for AYP to collaborate in mission with the entities of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
AYP Advisory
Monday, May 15, 2023
During the AYP President’s presentation at the NAD, he shared AYP’s plans to launch an AYP advisory to provide a space for our youth and young adult stakeholders to share ideas, feedback, and questions that will help shape the future of AYP.
This advisory will initially meet bi-annually and will consist of a brief ministry update followed by a virtual roundtable where AYP leaders will listen to you!
Our first advisory will be Monday, May 15, 2023 @ 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT. If you are interested in joining this, please RSVP. While this invitation is only being distributed to youth / YA conference / mission / union / division / GC level leaders, you are welcomed to invite pastors, lay people, or other department leaders from your conference. We simply ask that each person RSVPs so we are able to plan accordingly.
Previous Memos
Below are previous memos. If you are a youth director interested in being included on this monthly distribution or in scheduling a conversation with Tim Kosaka, AYP founder & president, please email Kaelin Peart, Administrative Assistant at president@AYP.me. If you are interested in subscribing to AYP’s monthly newsletter with general updates, please create a free AYP account.
Dear Youth Directors,
As we approach the start of spring, I hope you are doing well. I know a lot of you are crisscrossing the country recruiting summer camp staff and praying for traveling mercies as well as success in your recruitment. It was a pleasure to see many of you a couple weeks ago at NAD advisories and I look forward to keeping in touch.
As I do each month on the 15th, below are three AYP highlights for you:
AYP Advisory
During my presentation at the NAD, I shared our plans to launch an AYP advisory to provide a space for our youth and young adult stakeholders to share ideas, feedback, and questions that will help shape the future of AYP. This advisory will initially meet bi-annually and will consist of a brief ministry update followed by a virtual roundtable where AYP leaders will listen to you!
Our first advisory will be Monday, May 15, 2023 @ 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT. If you are interested in joining this, please RSVP. While this invitation is only being distributed to youth/YA conference/mission/union/division/GC level leaders, you are welcomed to invite pastors, lay people, or other department leaders from your conference. We simply ask that each person RSVPs so we are able to plan accordingly.
WhatsApp Chat for Young Adult Leaders
In addition to this advisory, I am pleased to share that AYP is launching a WhatsApp chat for Adventist pastors and youth/YA directors to be able to share ideas with each other and with AYP leaders on an ongoing basis. You are invited to join Young Adult SDA Pastors and at your dispersion, share this chat within your conference/mission/union/division.
Strategic Planning Season
Each spring, our President’s Cabinet journeys through a season of planning for the future. Included in this process, is the development of our theme/focus, a series of cross-departmental strategic goals/objectives/benchmarks, and actionable methods to successfully implement the strategic objectives within the context of the theme and organization’s mission overall.
As I shared at NAD advisories, our 2023-2024 theme will be Cultivate and will focus on helping AYPers integrate their work and life journey in Rhythms of Christ. Under the leadership of our Assistant to the President for Mission, Xiomara Perdomo, an AYP Taskforce is developing a series of 12 focus areas within this theme which will guide our resources and events in the year ahead. Simultaneously, our Assistant to the President for Strategy, Cinthya Molina, is leading cross-departmental discussions to develop a plan that puts these mission-focused goals into action.
I hope these updates are helpful to you and look forward to hearing from you with any questions or feedback.
Blessings,
Happy February Youth Directors,
Hope you are doing well. January has been a blessing for AYP and has been met with an array of productive meetings, a number of new team members, and several new partnerships. Our team is also hard at work developing our theme and strategic initiatives for the 2023-2024 year as well as in beginning the planning process for our 2024 convention happening July 19-21, 2024. Below are a few highlights I wanted to bring to your attention. Please reach out with any questions!
New Chapters
This past month, we launched two new chapters in Austin, Texas and Houston, Texas! Both are located in areas with large clusters of young professionals and our leaders are looking forward to making a positive impact in these communities. Visit
AYP.me/chapters
for a full roster of AYP chapters and email
Mechee.Cherine@AYP.me with any chapters-related questions.
Convention Speakers Update
I’m happy to share that we have finalized our roster of breakout speakers for the upcoming AYP convention. The individuals below will join us. Ben Lundquist – sharing perspective and expertise that will equip attendees to thrive for Christ.
- Ann Roda, VP for Mission Integration & Spiritual Care at Adventist HealthCare
- Michael Gibson, Senior Pastor, Keene SDA Church
- Shawn Johnson, Author, Speaker, and Generational Consultant
- April Snyder, Pastor for Discipleship, Keene SDA Church
- Stephen & Felicia Lee, Past Co-Presidents, ASI Young Professionals
Please stay tuned as more information about their breakout session tracks become available, and visit AYP.me/convention for more information. If you have any questions about the convention, please e-mail Mark.Antonio@AYP.me.
AYP Chaplain
AYP has welcomed a number of new team members over the past month and has filled a brand-new chaplaincy position that will focus on providing spiritual care to our team members and leading a team that develops programs and resources for the global AYP community. I’m pleased to share that Pastor Kayla Goodman – an alumna of Southwestern Adventist University who is currently at Andrews University for seminary – has accepted the invitation to serve in this role. Stay tuned as she acclimates into her new role and feel free to reach out to her at Kayla.Goodman@AYP.me.
Please continue to keep AYP in your prayers and please continue to reach out with any ideas or questions. We are here to support and collaborate with you as we work together for Christ!
Blessings,
Hello Youth Directors,
I pray you are doing well during these first few weeks of 2023. In my first monthly update to you, I want you to know that our team continues to keep you in our prayers and looks forward to collaborating in ministry during the year ahead. Below are a few quick updates:
Our Partners
As we embark on a new year, we are thankful to the organizations that make this ministry possible. Included in our family of supporters for 2023 are the Texas Conference of SDA Young Adult Department, ADRA, Kettering Health Network, and Hope Channel International. Many more denominational and supporting organizations equip the ministry of AYP as vendors, sponsors, and advertisers. If your department or conference is interested in partnering financially with AYP, please let me know.
AYP Blog
Each month, on the same day I email you my monthly update, I share a devotional thought with AYPers from across the globe. This, and many additional stories, are included in the AYP Blog. Our blog features inspirational insight and stories for and by Adventist young adults, and I invite you to explore and share these stories!
Mission Trip
AYP is planning its first domestic mission trip in partnership with Build & Restore International. The project will be August 31-September 4 in the Los Angeles, California area and will be filled with a variety of opportunities to positively impact SoCal for Christ. More details will be available soon!
Engaging Our Youth Directors
We continue to be blessed by the conversations our team is able to have with leaders from across the Adventist Church. This month, we are meeting with the youth directors for the Trans-European Division, Chinese Union Mission, and a number of local conferences. Please keep AYP in prayers as we continue to explore opportunities to support the work of the Adventist Church in collaboration with our conferences, missions, unions, and divisions.
Thank you,
Hello Youth Directors,
Wishing you many blessings this holiday season. I wanted to take a moment to provide you my monthly AYP update. Additionally, I want to let you know that we have developed a new resource for Adventist Church youth directors and will be building in additional content over the months ahead. Please check out the page, view the updates below, and let me know if you have any questions or ideas.
Chapter/Group Update/Invitation:
We recently launched a new chapter in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as two new exciting groups to engage and empower young adults. I invite you to learn more about these and many more groups at AYP.me/groups; please encourage your young adults to consider starting their own AYP group by visiting AYP.me/StartAGroup. Below are overviews of our newest groups!
Adventist Entrepreneurs, led by Vitaly Lim, founder of AdventTech – creator of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church Sabbath School app, is a brand new space for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs to network, share ideas and more through Christ-centered friendships.
The AYP Prayer Room creates a space for you to join AYPers from across the globe every day in prayer, praise, and community as you surrender each day to Christ and thank Him for His multitudes of blessings in your life.
Conversation Columns & Convention Update:
In January, we will be launching a new monthly resource – Conversation Columns – focused on engaging young adults through meaningful and insightful conversations about topics that are relevant and important to them. Under the editorial leadership of Pastor Jazzmine Bankston, these columns will be centered on our convention theme – Thrive: the Next Level and will help young adults prepare their hearts for our time together in July.
As we approach the end of 2022, I wanted to remind you one final time that there are just 2 weeks remaining for your young adults to reserve their tickets for the early bird rate of $84.99. Furthermore, please continue sharing with your pastors about our 12 for the price of 10 church group rates.
Fundraising Update:
As I conclude, I just want to thank each of you who have donated to Adventist Young Professionals this holiday season. I know you have so many causes to support and I appreciate your support to AYP. Together, we have raised nearly $10,000 for AYP and in the last few weeks are prayerfully aiming to reach our goal of $24,000. To read testimonies about the impact AYP is having on young adults and to learn more about the projects that donations will support in 2023, visit AYP.me/give. Thank you for your continued prayers, advocacy, and support.
Hello Youth Directors,
I hope you are doing well. Is there anything I can be praying for you about? I have been blessed over the past couple months to connect with around 30 of our youth directors across the division and have loved hearing your strategies and plans as we explore how AYP can best support our conferences and churches. Yesterday, I visited Lincoln, Nebraska and was blessed to connect with our Mid America Union leaders!
For those of you whom I have not yet had the opportunity to connect with, please do reach out at your convenience. I’d be happy to find a time to connect and explore how AYP can best support your initiatives! As I share each month, below are three things I wanted to keep you in the loop about!
End of Year Giving Season
Between now and the end of the year, our team is hard at work raising funds to sustain and grow the ministry next year. Thank you to those of you who donate to AYP, your personal contributions are such a huge blessing. As I’ve been asked by some, I want to let you all know that AYP does NOT accept tithe, we strongly encourage all to give to their local church before supporting the ministry of AYP. With this said, if you know anyone who might like to make a gift to AYP, please encourage them to visit AYP.me/give to make a donation of any amount. We truly appreciate all who believe in this cause. Please check out a video that shares how God has blessed us this past year!
Convention Update
I am excited to share that Pastor Ben Lundquist, Oregon Conference Young Adults Director, will be the keynote speaker for the 2023 AYP Thrive Convention. Details are being finalized, so stay tuned as more information becomes available! As a reminder, tickets are discounted to just $84.99 till December 31. Furthermore, our group discount enables your churches to reserve 12 tickets for the price of 10! Please encourage those you think would be interested to click here to reserve their discounted tickets! For international attendees seeking a visa letter, please have them email Jazzmine.Bankston@AYP.me.
AYP Talking Points
Finally, a number of you have requested talking points to help you accurately share AYP with your administrators, pastors, and young adults. I’m happy to share a PDF (attached) that provides an overview of the ministry as well as fun facts/ways to get involved. This is meant as an internal document to help our friends/team members share the ministry and I hope it is helpful to you. I’d ask you to direct members of the public to AYP.me/about for our public overview.
As usual, please feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions. Also, please continue to utilize our community calendar to share your conference’s and churches’ young adult gatherings with AYPers,
Hello Youth Directors,
Over the past month, our existing 10 chapters have continued to grow. Our San Antonio, Texas chapter hosted their first gathering last week and in the next few weeks, we will be establishing our newest chapter in Anchorage, Alaska. If you are interested in exploring how an AYP chapter can be established within your conference or union, please let me know so we can schedule a time to connect.
A goal of mine is to pair each of our 50+ team members with 1-3 seasoned mentors who can mentor them as a follower of Christ as well as a leader on our team. We are looking for mentors who can provide guidance in ministry programming, fundraising & development, marketing & communications, strategy & mission integration, recruitment & volunteer engagement, and ministry leadership. If you or someone you know would be interested in mentoring an AYP leader, please let me know so I can get you introduced. We greatly appreciate your consideration.
Conversation Column
Our team is beginning to explore how we can equip our chapter and group leaders as well as AYPers across the AYP network with a relevant and interactive resource that can drive intentional conversations. The goal is for this to become a monthly resource that any young professional can use to lead a vespers or Bible study amongst their fellow young professionals. We have a Texas Conference pastor serving as a mentor/editor of the project, but if you have ideas for topics that you feel would benefit young adults in your territory, please let me know.
I look forward to hearing back from you with any questions or suggestions. As a quick reminder, please continue to utilize our community calendar to share your conference’s and churches’ young adult gatherings with AYPers.
Thank you,
Hello Youth Directors,
With a number of recent leadership transitions across the division, I wanted to take a moment to re-introduce Adventist Young Professionals (AYP) to you.
AYP has now grown to a community of over 6,000 Seventh-day Adventist young professionals. Through online resources, local chapters, and an annual leadership convention, we help young adults build their community and discover opportunities to advance their faith and career. Our goal is to engage each AYPer in their local church and to be a resource and collaborator to you and your team.
Hearing Your Needs
I met with Pastor Tracy Wood earlier this summer and at his suggestion, we have begun meeting with the various NAD union youth directors. I appreciate the many mentors I have gained through this process and we continue to gain insight into how AYP can be a collaborator and supporter of our conferences and churches. I am looking forward to continuing these conversations and am especially excited to join both the Columbia Union and Mid America Union for their youth director advisories this fall.
AYP Community Calendar
We recently launched a community calendar to help churches and conferences build awareness for their young adult focused events. AYPers actively use the calendar to discover in-person and virtual gatherings that enable them to build community, grow faith, and serve others. Please feel free to share your conference’s events (via the red button on the page) so we can help build AYPer’s engagement with your young adult events. Please also feel free to share this resource with your fellow department directors and conference pastors.
Thrive Convention
Tickets for AYP’s 2023 Thrive Convention are quickly selling and our team is already working hard to plan for the leadership convention. We are very appreciative to the Texas Conference Young Adult Department for their financial support for the third convention in a row. I wanted to let you know that AYP is offering a group discount to help churches seeking to send their young adults to Thrive 2023. If you would like more information about this group rate, please email our convention director, Mark Antonio.
As I have shared with many of you, our leadership team is committed to collaborating with you in advancing the work of our Church. In the season ahead, I plan to provide more frequent email updates to better involve you in the development and growth of AYP, and I invite you to reach out anytime with your questions, concerns, or ideas.
Thank you,
Meet the President
Tim Kosaka is the founder and president of Adventist Young Professionals. As A native of the Pacific Northwest, he resides in Maryland. the global leader of Adventist Young Professionals, Tim is thankful for the opportunity he has to connect with talented young adults from across North America and around the world. He is passionate about merging his interest in marketing with his passion for ministry and supporting a team to creatively innovate the global ministry.
Tim holds a degree in Marketing from Walla Walla University. During his time there, Tim served as the student association’s social vice president and was involved in other ministry and leadership roles. He has also previously worked at Southwestern Adventist University, Upper Columbia Academy, and the Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s Sunset Lake Camp
Tim is excited to use his God-given talents to advance the ministry of Christ and looks forward to connecting with you!
Timothy Kosaka
Founder & President
Chairman of the Board
877-AYP-1844 x701