Our Staff and Board of Directors
One of the co-founders of Youth Missions International, Brian has been a youth pastor for the last six years. He has a BA in Christian Theology from Seattle Pacific University and a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. He has been involved in short-term mission trips since he went on his first trip to Venezuela in 1998 as a youth. Since then, he has participated as a team member on mission trips to Ireland and inner-city Pasadena and led six youth mission trips across the United States. He has been training and sending teams with AWANA's Missionary-In-Training Program for the last three years, including leading a team to Brazil. Brian enjoys baseball, soccer, football, good guitar music, and seeing God at work in different cultures around the world.
A co-founder of Youth Missions International, Rick has spent the last four years training and sending teams with AWANA's MIT Program as a Northwest Regional Specialist. He has a BA in Atmospheric Science from Oregon State University and is currently a pilot for Alaska Airlines. Rick has trained and sent 19 different short-term youth mission teams. These teams have gone to places throughout the U.S., as well as South Korea, Brazil, India, Jamaica, Ukraine, and South Africa – personally leading five of them. Rick likes to watch, coach, and play baseball, guitar, and drums.
A co-founder of Youth Missions International, Raeann has spent the last four years training and sending teams with AWANA's MIT Program as a Northwest Regional Specialist. She has a BA in Computer Science from CSU Sacramento and a Masters in Human Relations from Abilene Christian University. Raeann has trained and sent 19 different short-term youth mission teams. These teams have gone to places throughout the U.S., as well as South Korea, Brazil, India, Jamaica, Ukraine, and South Africa – personally leading six of them. Raeann enjoys photography, scrapbooking, computers, traveling, personally discipling teenage girls and being stretched by God.
Don been leading short-term mission trips with teenagers since 1993 when he took his youth group on a mission trip to Shepherds Home in Wisconsin. His first time leading a foreign mission trip was in 1997 when he trained and led his youth group to a trip to Nassau, Bahamas. Since then, Don has been all over the world, leading short-term youth mission teams to places like Jamaica, Holland, Brazil, Australia, Moldova and Japan. On these trips he has led, his teams have done all sorts of ministry including puppets, sports ministry, and even working with youth during an all-Europe T.E.A.M. Missions Conference. For the last six years, Don has worked with the AWANA Missionary-In-Training Program as the Northeast Regional Specialist, leading, training and sending teams around the world. Don likes to read as much as he can about culture and cross-cultural ministry.
Buddy Combs, Southeast Regional Director
Marcus "Buddy" Combs has been participating in short term mission trips
since 1994 when he began what was the first of nine wonderful trips to an orphanage
called Rio Bravo Ministries in Reynosa, Mexico. As he continued to participate,
he was eventually appointed the leader and trainer for the trip. His largest
trip involved transporting and organizing about 81 people. After about 6 trips
to Mexico, Buddy went with Global Missions International to Kenya. Later he went
on two trips to build churches in Honduras with Mission Builders International.
As of 2005 he and his wife, Kristi, have been leading, training, and sending
teams as the Southeast Regional Specialists for AWANA's Missionary-In-Training
Program. Through this program they have gone to Brazil and South Korea.
Diane Picha, Director of Development
Diane has been working in the
nonprofit sector for 16 years after attending Washington State University.
Her experience as a professional in the nonprofit world is invaluable to the
inner workings of Youth Missions International. Currently, she is a Donor Relations
Specialist for the Franciscan Health System in Tacoma, WA. One of her passions
has been volunteering as an adult leader on short-term youth missions trips.
She has been on four trips around the United States from the Blackfeet Indian
Reservation in Montana, to Brooklyn, NY, to New Orleans doing Hurricane Katrina
Relief with her church’s youth group.
Joseph is currently a junior at The Master's College in Santa Clarita, CA, where he is pursuing a degree in Bible Exposition. He is originally from the Seattle area and has been on two mission trips within the U.S. and one internationally. Joseph enjoys hiking, baseball, reading and travelling. He has a great passion for mission developed in the lives of young people here in the U.S. and around the world.
Rose is now a junior at Seattle Pacific University. She is currently slated to graduate in 2010 with a degree in English-Creative Writing. Rose has expansive mission experience. Rose went on her first international mission trip in 2004 to Bolivia through AWANA’s MIT program. Since then, she has gone on mission trips to Brazil, Guatemala and Ukraine. This last summer she was an intern running sports camps in the US and internationally for Uncharted Waters, a sports ministry based in Colorado Springs. Rose enjoys writing, scrapbooking, photography and watching "Lost".