by Becky Hefty | Jul 30, 2025 | MBI Services, Places and Projects
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!”
by Becky Hefty | Sep 14, 2017 | Connections Article
Mission Builders International has had one job to do since 1996: recruit volunteers to come alongside YWAM missionaries around the globe and assist them with their practical needs. Each 
year, hundreds of people bring their skills and strengths to jobs ranging from construction to teaching to auto maintenance to cooking. There’s always plenty to do on YWAM campuses, and volunteers can help for as little as two weeks or up to three months, allowing for easy-in, easy-out service.
The downside? The need for more people—of all ages—to see what’s going on in missions and catch the vision. There are so many ways to be involved!
When it comes to volunteering, nothing beats teamwork. By concentrating and organizing the labor, time and abilities of multiple people, projects get done in record time. Veteran mission builders Lynn and Jacky Battermann, Pat and Thelma Lewis and Lynne and Len Benson are masters of the team concept. They recruit friends, family, churches and fellow RVers to band together and travel from one location to another to get things done fast. As a result, missionaries get past logistical needs and on with the core work of their missions calling.
Adoption is another win-win between missionaries and volunteers. Some mission builders love to serve at numerous locations so they may enjoy a variety of cultures, friendships and travels. Others find a sin
gle campus they fall in love with, embracing it as a gathering of like-minded friends and making it the recipient of their ongoing service. Master electrician Phil Sauer, for instance, has become a trusted co-laborer and campus-development advisor to YWAM Chapala and YWAM Mazatlan in Mexico. Here in Montana, MBI depends on Jim and Joy McGatlin, who show up for busy summer months to serve as enthusiastic hosts and to manage the campus grounds.
The next wave of mission builders is rising from the millennial generation. Millennials are known for seeking meaningful ways to invest in their communities and the world. Because they naturally gravitate toward influential service and teamwork, they’re well-suited for volunteerism. Give them an opportunity to work as part of a fun, productive team that makes a difference, and they’ll make things happen. Offer a millennial a wide selection of service opportunities, and they’re quick to embrace multiple locations, as did Kristen Hinton (featured in MBI’s Connections, “God’s Fantastic Idea,” Fall 2016).
The world is accessible to those whose hearts beat for volunteer service. The only hindrance to realizing their dream is not knowing where their opportunities lie. MBI is a gateway to global possibilities, and we’re working hard to get the word out.
If you (or someone you know) have been searching for a just-right opportunity, whether it’s your first time to volunteer or you’re a veteran, MBI has what you’re looking for. Visit our website at www.missionbuilders.org and click on the Where to Go tab. Once you’ve found your “sweet spot,” go to our Contact Us page and fill out your application.
You’re halfway there, and a world of service is within your reach!
by Becky Hefty | Mar 25, 2016 | Uncategorized
Holy Work
by Amy Lindstrom
I remember looking in my husband’s eyes as we sat across from one another at a local restaurant. I had called a meeting. I had a lot on my mind.
I was fighting my way through the sadness of an empty nest, looking for new meaning and purpose. I knew I needed more and I wanted to “finish well.” I had deep fear that my last productive decades would be spent going out for lunch with friends, sharing photos of grand babies, scrap-booking and reading an occasional book. It wouldn’t be enough.
“Give me a few more years,” Paul said. So I did. I waited a few more years, finding more meaning than I’d anticipated. I finished a master’s degree in Christian counseling ministry. I was involved in mentoring younger women and mothers, counseling, praying, leading small groups, teaching. Still, I knew there was more. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was going to look like or how it would happen, but my soul longed for adventure, depth, more of Jesus and a community of others that longed for the same things.
Finally, God interven
ed and some rearranging began to happen in our lives. Some was good, some was difficult. Paul submitted to the changes, remembering the agreement he made across the table that winter day.
It was time for an adventure with Jesus. Depth, growth, challenge, pain, revelation, surrender; all of these were part of the MBI Crossroads DTS we participated in during the spring of 2014. Not even two years ago! Amazing, considering all that has happened since then. It was as if the waters of labor broke and the real me was birthed from a struggle I didn’t understand at the time.
Like many of you, I knew there was more in me than the world would want me to believe; more than what I saw so many in my generation settling for. I knew all of the experiences, failures, pain, loving and sacrifice I’d lived through was training that made me fit for a work that was somehow holy.
Yes, holy.
Holy is defined as: consecrated to God; set apart for the service of God. I knew the coming decades of my life were to be set apart in a way that was different from those now past. Motherhood and teaching had been services that were sacred in their own particular ways. But, I knew something was waiting that was different.
Looking back at the past 24 months, I find it amazing to see what the Lord has done with the days and weeks and months now in my rearview mirror. I’m blessed to have seen many of my life-long dreams reach their fullness. Some I had even protected from utterance in my prayers. There have been times when I was filled with doubt and painfully stretched, but the adventure I began in my Crossroads DTS has become a whirlwind of adventure, growth and delightful surprises.
Last January, I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, where I was a mission builder for 10 days. I went there in a desperate attempt to remind myself that God was working on a plan, ordering my steps, and there was something else to come after my CDTS. I went with small expectations, not knowing what would happen, just willing to serve in a warm and beautiful place. What happened was immeasurably more than all I asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20). I worked in hospitality and housekeeping, something I knew a little about. But the Lord gave me grace and favor, opening doors so I could also use my education and experience to lead a time of intercession and minister to staff and students through prayer, counseling and teaching. Those younger than me sought my wisdom, knowledge and friendship. They welcomed me as a valuable blessing to their community. This was the encouragement I needed to expand my YWAM training in order to use my experience in counseling ministry to bless YWAMers.
In April of 2015, I attend
ed a secondary school in Kona, Hawaii: Foundations of Counseling Ministry. This has opened further doors for me to use my master’s degree in YWAM. I completed three months of outreach over the fall and winter, ministering in Scandinavia and campuses in my home state of Wisconsin. Paul and I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, again where I taught, ministered, counseled and participated in local outreach. He assisted with campus projects and helped build a house with Homes of Hope. In future months, I will continue teaching, counseling and ministering to those who long to expand the kingdom but are hindered by the pain and wounds of life.
This is what I have learned since my adventure with YWAM began:
- Although the Y in YWAM stands for youth, the younger generation is hungry for the wisdom and experience that my generation has to give. Having lacked a God-like love as children, many still crave the care and nurture of those older than themselves; spiritual mothers and fathers to accept, mentor and cheer. God is a God of the generations. He desires to join the generations together in bonds of love and unity. Yes, they really want us, need us, and we are still part of the story!
- There is a real community available to us; a big family that loves us as we are and welcomes the chance to do life with us. There is a belonging that is unique to the Body of Christ, where we are able to transcend differences in cultures, colors, languages, age and gender. Yes, there is a community where we can belong!
- God is challenging my generation to surrender the selfishness of a retirement focused on pleasure; to use the blessings of our age and resources to benefit the kingdom. Yes, we really have much more to give than we realize!
- It is never too late to heal, find purpose, dream dreams, discover what else is inside of us. God has never stopped dreaming dreams for us and he has not forgotten the things he has whispered into our hearts, the promises he has made. Yes, he is faithful to finish what he started in each of us (Philippians 1:6)!
- God knows us. He knows exactly what we bring to his kingdom and the best place to set us. He knows every detail of our joys, talents, knowledge, and if we follow, he will place us exactly where we can most brightly shine for him. That may be behind a bulldozer, in a kitchen, playing with orphans, painting a sign or praying with the brokenhearted. He alone knows where we fit and the time of our arrival. Yes, we can trust him!
Be encouraged today! The Father is not finished with me or you. Perhaps, like myself, you can find YOUR place with YWAM and MBI. Perhaps you, too, will begin with a Crossroads Discipleship Training School. God may have another road for you to travel. But I am certain that however the Father chooses to do it, there is still meaningful purpose and growth awaiting you. Change and adventure are both exhilarating and terrifying at times. But to me, the alternative is even more frightening. God is good, trustworthy and faithful. Lean into ALL that he has for you.
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