Missionary

Aidan + Adrianne Sommers

Aidan and Adrianne Sommers, missionaries at YWAM Lancaster
Aidan and Adrianne Sommers, missionaries at YWAM Lancaster

The More You Know

Hi, we are Aidan and Adrianne Sommers. Born and raised in Lancaster County, we are committed to fostering a missions movement among the youth and the Anabaptist community. Our hearts are dedicated to helping young people discover and be formed into their true identity in Christ. We aim to see this generation pursue God wholeheartedly and prepare the way for the King of Glory, hoping to witness the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our lifetime. Aidan leads a team that calls and follows up with young people interested in missions, providing mentorship and accountability through the process. Adrianne leads a team, reaching Gen-Z through media to call, educate, and inspire them about the Great Commission. Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

Aidan

Psalms. God has pulled me out of the miry bog and set my feet secure on the solid rock through meditation on the Psalms. I need something outside of myself to align me daily and each morning I have found a harvest of delight and satisfaction through simple meditation. I have experienced freedom, tasted delight, and discovered trust through this book.

Adrianne

I have many favorites, so this is a hard question, but one book in particular has been significant in my walk with the Lord, that being the Gospel of John. God has led me through reading this book and His Holy Spirit has been making it come alive to me! This is a book where I’m not just reading it, but I’m experiencing His Word on a personal level through revelations. He’s been teaching me how to abide in Him, making the reality of Jesus’ body broken and blood spilled, and the truth of Him being my source of life more real. This book is changing my life!

Aidan

English Standard Version (ESV). It is more of a literal translation of scripture which I prefer. Rather than getting a paraphrase that may be distorted more through translation, I’d rather read a more word-for-word translation and do extra study as I need when reading.

Adrianne

I prefer ESV because it is said to be the most accurate in translation from the original Hebrew and Greek and it is easy to read and understand.

Aidan

Protais, a local pastor in the outskirts of Kampala, a large city in Uganda, hosted me for a 10-day VISA run. This was a joyful time to get to know his culture and minister alongside him. He taught me dependence on the Lord like I’ve never seen and showed me what it was like to be a son of God while also providing for a wife and kids.

Adrianne

The most exciting place I have been with YWAM is South Africa! During my DTS, my outreach location was in Bethlehem South Africa and then a few years later I was able to go back to that nation to the town of Potchefstroom (to the Fire and Fragrance base) and take a communications and leadership school. Both times I was there, God did significant things in my heart. He drew me in closer to His heart of love, healing, intentionality, and peace. He taught me many things about communicating with Him and others that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I found myself in a place of rest like I’d never experienced before as I learned to be confident in the ways that He speaks to me and desires to do life WITH me.

Aidan

I did my Discipleship Training School simply because it was the coolest idea in the world to me that I’d be able to fully devote myself to discovering God for 5 months. After hearing my older brother’s testimony of how God met him on his DTS, I figured that that was the only direction worth heading in my life.

Adrianne

I knew there was more of God but I didn’t know how to get it. I knew I was made to be a part of something bigger than myself. I began asking God for direction and next steps and He led me to The Send in Orlando Florida. That day on February 23rd, 2019, the Lord encountered me and I couldn’t say what He was tugging on my heart. I felt His presence in a way I never had before, it was real and powerful. He was calling me to missions and breaking me out of religion. He was calling me into an intimate relationship with Him. He was calling me to raise up my own generation for the sake of the gospel. I gave Him my yes without fully knowing what I was saying yes to. I had no grid for a lot of the things I experienced and saw on that day, but I was burning on the inside. Saying yes and taking action was the best thing ever. By the grace of God, He has led me to take part in His story of seeing every nation, tribe, and tongue worship the King of Glory.

Aidan

I stepped onto the Kona Campus in Hawaii as an 18-year-old to do my DTS in September of 2020. The Lord made a simple, yet profound, transformation in my heart during this time. I could enjoy God and enjoy serving Him. I had never experienced the joy of partnership with the Holy Spirit and got to live it out daily. I discovered that in partnership with God, there was a freedom to be who God made me to be, which was a lover of people. I realized that there would never again be a moment in my life when I’d feel alone or without aid. I had aligned myself with the High King of Heaven, and His intent was to bring me into His plan and the fullness of joy.

Adrianne

In the Fall of 2019 in Florida, I did a DTS with YWAM Orlando. Coming into that season I didn’t know how real Jesus’ love was for me. Over the 6 months I was in this school, I encountered God’s love in a way I didn’t even know was possible, I found freedom from shame and lies about my identity. I learned how to hear His voice and got baptized in the Holy Spirit. My desire and hunger grew as I began to realize that so many people are stuck in sin, shame, condemnation, and death, just like I was. I came alive in ways I never had before and knew God wanted to use my testimony and gifts to invite others into a personal relationship with Him and help fulfill the great commission.

Aidan

YWAM Kona, Hawaii tore down false ideas of God, gave me a deep desperate hunger for my Creator, and taught me how to do know Him. Fire and Fragrance in Potchefstroom, South Africa taught me the Fear of the Lord and showed me how to live a life with God 24/7, as well as refined idols I had in my heart. YWAM South Sudan showed me the cost it would take to live in the nations, but the wonderful grace God gives to those who say yes to Him to go to hard places. YWAM Papua New Guinea taught me how to say yes to God’s dream (For them it was Bible poverty in their nation), let it burden you, and take action on it. YWAM Lancaster has taught me how to show honor to others, be hospitable to everyone, and have healthy relationships.

 

Adrianne

I have visited the following YWAM bases: YWAM Montego Bay, YWAM Orlando, YWAM Bethlehem, YWAM DC, YWAM Boston, YWAM New Orleans, YWAM Atlanta, Fire and Fragrance South Africa, Circuit Riders in Huntington Beach, and of course YWAM Lancaster. All of these experiences have majorly impacted my life in missions. God used every single one of them to grow me, reveal His heart for the nations, and invite me into the things He is doing across the earth through this current generation.

Being on the base of Montego Bay holds a larger significance, as that was my first time ever on a YWAM base. I was 16 years old (2016) with no grid for missions, let alone the Great Commission, and living in another country telling people about Jesus. But while I was there, it planted a seed in my heart that God continued to water. Over the years my hunger for something more of Him grew and I decided to do a DTS (2019).

Aidan

While doing kids ministry in Papua New Guinea, I met a little girl. The Lord, in a way I’ve never experienced before or have since, gave me His Father’s heart for her. I had thought that adoption was a cool idea before this encounter, but since it I have been deeply moved. I loved her in a way I felt that a father would, and I told the Lord that if He ever gave me that kind of love for a child I would adopt them. I now have made up my mind that I will adopt children, from whatever culture in the world, and dedicate myself to raising them as I would my own children.

Adrianne

I was in Boston on outreach doing a lot of college campus evangelism. One day my friend and I were partnered up walking around the campus telling people about Jesus. Something was off though, we felt disconnected and awkward, like we weren’t really approaching anyone in love and intentionality. We prayed and asked the Holy Spirit for help and felt like He said, “Ask people how they are doing, just ask them questions to start the conversation.”

So we took His advice and started to view the people as people God wanted to encounter, rather than just a project where they needed to convert. Evangelism is to be relational and not a planned-out conversation because that would just be weird to go off of a script. Jesus never did that, He always asked questions, met the person where they were at, and spoke into their life. He wants to reveal Himself in personal ways.

That day, my perspective on evangelism changed. Instead of feeling pressure to have all the right words to say, I started to trust the Holy Spirit more to give me His heart.

Support

Aidan + Adrianne Sommers

Subscribe to our Email Newsletter

* indicates required