Well hello there, we’re the Bookers—Ryan, Adriel, Levi, Judah, and Micah. Ask any one of us and we’ll tell you the best thing in our lives is each other. (Well, some of us would also add in Lego or camping or… our beloved dog, Frankie.) We are fiercely in love with one another and deeply committed to learning how to live our lives in such a way as to demonstrate the goodness of God to our neighbours. At times we realize how much we still need to grow, and yet at the end of the day we believe God is pleased with us… because he loves all his kids and puts their pictures front and center on his fridge. (Yes, yours is there too. And for the record he’s pleased with you, too.)

We moved to Sydney a couple of years ago to cultivate community in the best way we know how, and we count it a privilege to serve a generation of young people and help them know God, discover who they are in light of him, and begin to connect their gifts and passion with the needs of the world. (Read our story here—jump midway down the page to the “staff” section.) In fact, we believe in these ideas so much that we’ve given our whole lives to this pursuit. But make no mistake, there’s nothing fancy or heroic about us. We’re simply living our ordinary lives hand in hand with our extraordinary friend Jesus. (And the best part is, every now and then we get glimpses of just how magical and holy our ordinary lives actually are. We’re amazed every time.)

Ryan is a pastor and a maker (he builds and draws and cooks stuff) and Adriel is an author and blogger and advocate. We’re also both speakers and Bible teachers. (Sometimes we even do speaking gigs together, which is super fun.) And of course we share parenting—our hardest, most fulfilling job.

In case you think we take ourselves too seriously, we’re also both pretty big fans of camping by the beach, family BBQs, and checking out all the little cafes in our quirky neighborhood in inner city Sydney. Ryan also like his footy (Australian rugby league), drawing and painting, and his kitchen and computer gadgets, and Adriel likes rearranging furniture, reading twelve books at once, and watching documentaries. Ask us any time, but our current Netflix picks are Stranger Things 2, Designated Survivor, Brooklyn 99, and The Good Place. If you ever want to take us out for dinner (heh!), it’s a pretty safe bet to choose Thai, Turkish (or Lebanese), Mexican, or Indian. And the kids? Well, they’re pretty fixated on tacos. Yes I (Adriel) take all the credit for their fine culinary discretion—ha! And come to think of it, Ryan’s default will probably be to ask for a steak and beer. *sigh*

If you’d like to stay connected with us, the best way is through our family newsletter, which we send out about three or four times a year. It does include some news bites, but more than that it’s a letter meant to encourage you. The other best way—yes, there are two—is by joining our private ministry support network on facebook. Because of the nature of our work, we don’t post regular updates online through blog posts and public social media, so this group stands in place of that. Of course we also hang out on instagram (Adriel here and Ryan here and our YWAM ministry account here), and all the overflow gets spilled out on Adriel’s blog. For more on our ministry, you can dig around all sorts of pages (and our blog) over on our ministry website for YWAM Sydney Newtown. (In fact, this will be your very best place to grow in understanding about the training we offer and the ways we serve folks in our community.)

Phew. That was a lot and we’re plum out of time together. Next time we hang out ask me about the year we lived in a 95-quare-foot caravan and then moved into a nine bedroom boarding house. I promise you we’ll laugh.

Love,
Adriel, Ryan, Levi, Judah, and Micah