Partner Architects: Reaching the Nations by Design
Partner Architects is helping to build the mission by working with ministries to create places that support God’s redemptive work in the world. Partner Architects engages the nations by focusing its design services on underserved areas of the world with low Christian populations and no access to professional services.
SUMMER INTERN
This summer, Partner welcomed intern Sarah Conaway from Auburn University in Alabama. She just completed her junior year of architecture school, where she is pursuing a dual degree in architecture and interior architecture. After returning from a mission trip to Uganda and hearing about Partner through LinkedIn and friends, Sara felt she was supposed to intern with Partner. A surprise financial gift confirmed her decision.
Ross Lackey says, “Sarah arrived in late May and has contributed to so many aspects of every project in the Partner office. We’re trying to give Sarah a window into what serving in our mission looks like, plus a breadth of experience and growth in all aspects of architecture. Sarah is easy to work with and has integrated seamlessly with the team and office culture.
“Interning with Partner Architects is a beautiful time where we can come alongside a young architect and prayerfully discern God’s heart for them and how God might be using their vocation for His purposes. Sarah has appreciated the experience and could see herself possibly doing this long-term, which would be helpful for missionaries around the world.”
PROJECTS
YWAM Gambia, West Africa
Last year, a new YWAM campus took root in Gambia, West Africa. YWAM Gambia reaches its local community, the surrounding villages, and the nations while also discipling Muslim converts in how to thrive as Christians in a Muslim country. Partner Architects came alongside YWAM Gambia from the start, helping them design and execute a campus development plan that will meet their diverse ministry needs.
YWAM Gambia now reports that they have completed a water tower, a workshop/vocational training building, a bathroom block, and two of the three levels of their housing structures. The third story of each housing unit is underway. The YWAM Gambia missionary team has labored diligently, and Ross says, “They are very proud of their accomplishments.”
Freedom’s Promise, Poipet, Cambodia
Freedom’s Promise is an anti-trafficking ministry community in Poipet, Cambodia. They reached out to Partner Architects for help designing a campus that could accommodate all of their multifaceted ministries. Ross says, “Freedom’s Promise began as a trafficking rescue organization, going into the bars and nightclubs to get women and young girls out of their modern-day slavery. They strategically transitioned to trafficking prevention through a six-pronged community development and evangelism model.”
The Freedom’s Promise campus is nearing completion. They will open their doors in August or September as a ministry community ready to provide education, healthcare, job training, Bible teaching, and trafficking awareness classes. “Now,” Ross says, “they can maintain a stable and permanent presence in their community, empowering and multiplying their work.”
UofN Pailin, Cambodia
The UofN Pailin YWAM location in Cambodia is a ministry plant of YWAM Battambang. Ross says, “YWAM Pailin serves, educates, and develops youth to see this generation fulfill its God-given potential. When they outgrew the facilities they had rented for eight years, they purchased land, debt-free, and called on Partner Architects to help with their campus design. They started work at the first of the year. The perimeter fence and entry gate (with electrical pumps, guardhouse, and garbage area) are completed. They’re ready to start building now, beginning with their worship pavilion next month. At the same time, they’re designing their multi-purpose building.”
YWAM Pailin understands that sharing the life and truth of Jesus in a nation comprised of 72% young people will open the door to seeing God bless the entire nation. Partner Architects is helping them realize their goals.
YWAM Mazatlán, Mexico
YWAM Mazatlán, Mexico, is located in a historic part of the city. They’ve operated their bustling ministry for years out of a single renovated hotel near the ocean. When it became apparent that their facilities were too small to match their big vision for training and sending 3,000 missionaries each year, they acquired five adjacent pieces of surrounding property. Now, they’re developing a visionary, 3-acre campus plan.
Ross says, “This is Partner’s most complex project to date. The YWAM Mazatlán campus design includes retail spaces, raised common areas, four 8-10 story towers, and parking garages, all on a three-acre footprint.”
MBI HOME PROJECTS
Partner Architects continues to help oversee each construction phase of MBI’s Mission Lodge project. As time allows, they advance other projects in the queue, including MBI’s RV park and staff-housing area.
The Partner Architect team continues to pray that God will call skilled, well-rounded, visionary professionals out of the secular arena into the mission. Ross says, “There is a great need for architects in missions. We’re excited to add skilled people with a heart for missions to our team!”
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