After every club is a time to dwell on what just happened.  Were we excellent?  Was Christ lifted up?  Jim Rayburn said, "A successful club is one where Christ is made known."

There is a lot of planning that goes into club for all the humor, songs, talks, and minor details.  Then the day of club we load all the audio video equipment into a car and unpack it at the house we are visiting for the week.  After the hour of club, we pack it all back up and put it in storage until next week. 

Was it worth it? Last night I received a text from a high school guy that answers that question.  ABSOLUTELY! If one of our high school friends feel loved because of club then Christ was made known that night and our job was done. 

Earn The Right

Young Life leaders can be found at games, parties, or just hanging out with kids.  It is part of our philosophy to "earn the right to be heard" from our high school friends.

No one wants to feel like a project, so our leaders put in hundreds of hours letting kids know we truly care and are available. 

A quick prayer

Oh lord you hold creation in your hands and you bless me beyond imagine.  When I am unfaithful your faithfulness doesn't wane.  I praise you for all you are doing in the ministry of Young Life, but I still feel the greater work needs to be done in my own heart. 

Post 2 @ Camp

It has been a great 24 hours at Crooked Creek.  Yesterday we had a camp wide volleyball tournament that is meant to unify cabins as they come up with cabin uniforms.  Again, leaders are setup to be heroes as they brought some stuff to share and bring the cabins together.  Our upperclassmen guys put on ties and shades then spelled diesel on their backs.  

During free time some of our kids went on a high swing, high ropes course, horseback riding and ridge runners (dirt track go carts).  These experiences give them shared memories with leaders and challenges some of their fears.  

Finally, at club last night we were met with the story about Jesus healing a bleeding woman and bringing a girl to life.  The question that lingered was, "what are your expectations of God? Do you expect God to work or like many people -- 'I just don't think about it.'"

Some of the walls our high school friends have built up are starting to come down, and they are becoming authentic.  They are admitting that they don't believe this stuff, they want God to lead them, they are afraid of going back home and letting this stuff "stick", and some are still unsure of what God's story means for them.  

Great things are happening and I hope that God is receiving all the glory for the work being done. 

We have arrived

Arriving at camp is always a time to take a deep breath, smile, and look forward to what you are going to see. 

After 21 hours of travel, eating, and waiting, the Mankato crew arrived at Young Life Camp expectant of what they might see and hear.  We were greeted by program and some humor relief that brought smiles to wearied travelers.  
The work crew carried our bags to the room; we settled in then went to dinner.  The students were greeted with the excellence of Young Life camp and the extravagance of our love and service.

At our first club we were invited to think about, "What is God like?".  Even if you know who he is, let's think about it as if we are learning new information.  

Immediately after club we were thrown into an obstacle course where kids protect their leader from oncoming barrages of water balloons, mud holes, and military style obstacles.  The purpose is to experience a high energy Young Life experience that sets leaders as the center of their cabin and helps kids be heroes. 

Then we headed to our cabins to debrief from the day and share our thoughts.  Here are some things kids shared about camp already: 
"This is way different than I thought it would be."
"Oh my gosh that Obstacle course was awesome--and a little dangerous."
"I just wanted to get away"
"This is more than I expected it to be"

It is a simple message

I have been doing work with Young Life now for almost 13 years, and it is hard to get mired by everyone’s expectations as to what we are supposed to do.  When I was 20, a college girl raised her hand and asked our college church group to pray for a guitar player for a bunch of high school students on Monday nights.  It is crazy how many guys get pulled into Young Life because of a girl, and I’ll admit…I thought this girl was cute. 

I caught Sarah before church and told her I was willing to help.  She didn’t just tell me what was required of me to play guitar for the group—she told me about Young Life.  We “go where kids are, earn the right to be heard, and tell them about Jesus.”

“Wait,” I said, “You go to the schools and meet kids? That sounds like the most awesome organization I have ever heard of.  I mean that is what missionaries do, and I love it.”

What I have loved about Young Life as I have become more a part of it is how we care about kids that are Catholic, Baptist, Non-denominational, or have no church.  It doesn’t change the way we care or the message we carry.  We don’t respond differently if our high school friends reject Jesus. Something about this is just—right.

I am blessed to talk with adults of different faith traditions and encourage them in their journeys with Christ.  The reason this organization has allowed me to be so free to love and communicate with masses is simply because we are about one thing—JESUS!

I love the traditions and disciplines of the church and they usher me to holy places with our Savior.  However, I am not willing to let them interfere with the simple message of Jesus.  I was reminded of this as I had a discussion with a wonderful woman this week about her faith. 

Inspired Hope

I was talking to a parent the last night at a baseball game.  Her son has been involved in Young Life for the past year and is also involved in his church youth group.  He is more of a quiet kid but definitely committed to Christ.  

They were driving in the car together discussing the future.  Sam is just about to enter his junior year of high school.  He said, "mom I don't know where I am going to go to college or what I am going to do or anything."

His mom said, "it's ok sam. You've got time."

Sam said, "Wherever I go, I want Young Life to be there. I know I want to be a Young Life leader."

A Spiritual Moment

Kiara depends on others...

Often times we are giving the opportunity to inspire, create, help, serve or deeply impact a persons life.  When we let God work in these opportunities, something truly mystical happens through and in us.   

Mother Teresa said, “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” What if the world actually lived this way? 

 
Kiara was a middle school student that showed up to Young Life camp confined to her wheelchair because of her cerebral palsy.  She could not participate in many of the weeks events, but when it came to the water slide, she was eager to try the 3 story tall thrill ride.  

We stopped the regular traffic for about 30-45 minutes that day. About 50 students gathered to cheer on Kiara as she experienced a first in her life.  This is a first she could not have conquered on her own, and it took a team to help her with her goal.  Isn't that what Christ calls us to? We need to be less focused on achieving our own life goals and take notice in what God is trying to achieve through us in others' lives--for then all will leave impacted. 

By the third climb up the stairs, I was tired.  Kiara could not help grip with her legs or even wrap the rigid boards around me, so it took deliberation and strengths to keep her on my back.  However, my hero that day was her leader--not because she was bold enough to ask for our help to take Kiara down the slide and not because she rode with Kiara down the slide, but because of her commitment to get Kiara to camp.  Kiara's leader was locked into serving, bathing, and traveling with Kiara all week. I would imagine it started long before Kiara showed up to camp and will continue as they returned
home.  

It was one of the most spiritual moments of my month being invited into the relationship and service of Kiara and her Young Life leader. 

Volunteering makes a difference

Young Life camp is mostly run by volunteers.  Here Jake Beyer, a leader in Mankato, MN, describes volunteering for a month at Young Life camp.  It is hard work but in the end it is worth it because the Gospel is preached. However, God seems to do more in us than through us. 

Humor Goes a Long Way

Only at Young Life camp are 30 year old men dressed as over sized babies funny--everywhere else that would just be creepy. 

Every morning for a month Matt Kelly and I interrupted breakfast for playtime.  With middle school students, we let them throw grapes at us and smash eggs on our head. For the teen moms and their babies, we created musical playtime on stage with the kids. 

The humor in Young Life is key because it 1. Breaks down the walls kids put up to the Gospel and 2. supports our catch phrase "its a sin to bore a kid with the Gospel."  Why can't we learn to play and have fun in the name of Jesus?  I believe God gave us the ability to create many things that help us enjoy relationship with each other and him--let us express those gifts with joyfulness.

What it means by "You Were Made for This."

Enfleshment

Jim Rayburn's Final Message to Young Life staff in 1970

“By far the greatest job in the world today is just to thumb the pages of the New Testament, which was written to make Jesus Christ known, and to do it in the presence of a group of people who are listening, who know you care about them, and no beans about it; people that you’ve taken the time and the trouble to prove that you really care.” 

Most people live on devastated surfaces of their life and are not ready to hear about, "the greatest story ever told."  They are looking for someone to understand, empathize and walk with them through the journey of life.  

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

God's spirit is on me
      He's chosen me to preach the message of Good News to the poor
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners
     and recovery of sight to the blind
To set the burdened and battered free
     to announce "This is God's Year to act!" 
Luke 4:18-19 (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2)

 The word here that is often used to preach and in the Greek does mean to share the good news.  However, in Isaiah the word is BASAR, which is actually "to put meat on, enflesh" the Good News of God.  

We don't actually preach at people.  Somehow we need to become the Gospel for people to encounter.  To do this we need to learn to be cared for and to care for each other.  So much we talk about how God cares for others, but do we realize that God cares for all of who we are?  We must enflesh the Gospel by first letting it wash over us.  Do we let it impact our hearts, our relationships, our dependents, and our vocations?  How do we let forgiveness flow into us and out of us?  What are you harboring now?  Do you let the Gospel be enfleshed to you?  

1.  What is the care we receive? (Does it impact our core?)
2.  What is the care we practice? (Do we make the Gospel about morals, behaviors or truly about Good news?)
3.  What is the care we extend to others? (How does that overflow from us?)

Work Crew is a Big Hit

This past weekend we took three of our high school friends to work crew for a winter weekend.  They served college students in the coffee shop and dining hall.  They are learning that growing Christ is also learning to serve and love on humanity as well.  It isn't easy and not always fun but doing so with an open heart is a blessing to us all.  

One of the beautiful things we get to do with our high school friends is serve right along beside them.  They aren't less than us but stand shoulder to shoulder to us.  I am reminded of Jesus in John 15 when he said, "I no longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves, I call you friends, for I have told you everything the Father has told me."  

It is a sweet place to be--loving on, serving with, and teaching the truth of who Jesus is.  Some of the conversations from the weekend were: 

1. What holds you back from risking everything for a life with Jesus? 

2.  What is hard about your relationships as you try to walk with Jesus? 

3. I don't want anyone to go to hell.  Is there a time when Hell will be defeated? What does the end of the world look like?  

This is notes from Letters to a Young Life Leader by Bob Mitchell

Some girls acting silly at Monde Schwartz's house.

Reaching the "outsiders" will require much more than providing a good program of club and camp activities for them.  The ministry must be "incarnational".  That means going where kids are, seeking to understand their culture.  We must build relationships of love and trust.  Jesus, "the Word become flesh," did exactly that.  He personally entered our broken world to show forth the love of God.  Now he asks us to continue his incarnation.  

A simple explanation of this principle [winning the right to be heard] is that the one who proclaims the gospel is the same one who has spent much time with kids, being with them to establish credibility and trust.  

Tucker [a Young Life staff kid]  observed that the proclamation was given by leaders who had climbed mountains with the kids, who had done crazy skits that put themselves down, and who had hung out with the kids around camp.  Speakers had the attention of campers because they had been with them to establish credibility and trust.  

Prayer is the work

I believe that Satan knows how to distract ministry people from the work.  He does this by making mountains of paperwork, communications, jobs, requests, and planning.  But, what if the work was just to get up in the morning, pray for those around you and entrusted to you, and somehow that day try to express to them the vastness of Jesus.  Oh, Glorious Day!

From the book, Letters to a Young Life Leader, "It is fair to say that Young Life was bathed in prayer in those early years.  'Prayer is the work,' Jim would remind us."

Lord, this is the day you have made.  I am overcome with thankfulness at the opportunities that you have created for Young Life in the Greater Mankato Area.  Grant us with favor with our high school friends so that we can love on them like Jesus loves on us.  Grant us favor with your church so that the body of Christ can see the active part we play in introducing kids to the kingdom.  Grant us favor with donors so that we might expand our territories so every kid has the opportunity to hear the truth about who you are.  

I love the prayers of Jim Rayburn and I echo them in my prayers this morning "Send us your kids."  These are not our [Young Life] kids, they are not property owned by anyone but let us shepherd those you give us.  

Thank you for your never ending love.  

Justin gets messy in the Young Life first annual Crudfest. 

I recently received a text message from a Youth minister that ate lunch with a student that has been very regular in coming to Young Life.  He asked me if we were being intentional with connecting with Justin.  Justin said that Young Life is making a profound impact in his life.