Covenant Youth of Alaska A relational outreach, discipleship and leadership ministry for Alaska youth and young adults
Volume 11, Issue 4
August 2015
The Continuum of Discipleship Care - Working Together! As a ministry, we are grateful to work with a team of people and ministries across the state who are committed to a unified goal of seeing young people come to KNOW Christ, GROW in Christ, and GO in Christ. One way we work toward this unified effort is through what we call the Continuum of Discipleship Care. The Continuum of Discipleship Care provides opportunities for Alaskan youth and young adults to experience Christ in different ways as they grow and mature in their faith. We work to track with students as they move throughout the state, walking alongside them through various stages of their lives - through trials, joys and celebrations. By providing and connecting young people to oportunities to learn, be discipled, and serve, they are able to experience what it means to be a part of the church. Our prayer is that they will continue to grow and serve with their lives and lead the local church for years to come. To learn more about the Continuum of Discipleship Care, please visit www.cyak.org!
CYAK intern Charis serving Communion at Leadership Camp.
“So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5
Ministry in the Eyes of: Eric Johnson We also offer Christian community in our Residential Life Director of Ministry and Development Amundsen Educational Center (partner ministry of CYAK)
Please introduce yourself: I previously served in Alaska as Director of Operations at Alaska Christian College and here at Amundsen Educational Center (AEC). I have a B.A. in Elementary Education and a Master’s of Arts in Christian Ministry from North Park Theological Seminary. I have served as a youth pastor and Associate Pastor within the Covenant church. Together with my wife, Meghan, we sensed a call to return long-term to Alaska in July 2014. Meghan serves in the development department at Alaska Christian College and is very involved with the ministry at AEC. We are blessed with four children that bring us a great deal of joy. Meghan and I love this land and the people of this great land. Together, we have a passion to see young people grow in relationship with Jesus, heal from hurts and pains, gain in opportunity through educational pursuits following high school, and become those that will disciple the next generation. Tell us a little about AEC: Amundsen Educational Center (www.aecak.org) is located on the Kenai Peninsula in Soldotna. We are a faith-based, non-profit, educational and vocational training school. AEC serves students from native villages across Western Alaska as well as local students from the central Kenai Peninsula. We are authorized by Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education. We currently offer vocational training in the areas of Residential Construction, Office Skills, and Professional Medical Coding. This fall, we will begin our first Aviation Ground School Course.
program. Students that come to our program from various villages live in a student cabin next to staff on campus. Our staff are part of a smaller home away from home environment where each student is loved and cared for in many tangible ways. We provide multiple weekly devotional times/Bible study, mentoring opportunities, weekly church attendance, weekly Home Groups, Covenant Youth of Alaska retreats, service opportunities, and many recreational activities (hiking, basketball, swimming, bowling, and much more). How is AEC connected to CYAK? CYAK was instrumental in the beginnings of AEC. Such a school had long been the dream of Rev. Roald Amundsen, a longterm missionary and pilot who was the founder and director of Missionary Aviation Repair Center (MARC) in Soldotna. When a parcel of land was donated to Amundsen for charitable purposes in the mid-90s, he asked the help of Rev. Maynard Londborg and Rev. Donald Bruckner in establishing plans for a vocational school. Londborg and Bruckner added veteran Alaskan physician Dr. Robert Fortuine to the group and the three met regularly to develop plans for the venture, which was finally incorporated in 1996. The founders named the school in honor of Rev. Amundsen in recognition of his dream and his lifetime of service in Alaska. Much essential developmental work was then carried out over the next few years under the leadership of the first director, Del Corrick. After a pilot project in Fairbanks coordinated through Covenant Youth of Alaska and Byron Bruckner, the school formally opened in Soldotna in the fall of 2001. Continued on page two...