Numbers

If we go by the numbers the last couple weeks have been amazing. 44 middle schoolers showed up from the Fern Ridge area for the all nighter. Besides getting to present the gospel message to them, I get a kickback for the club account so I can spend money back on the students. It is a win win win. I had 25 students attend Club last week for fear factor. While the numbers can waiver for club, my contacts with students on campus is 4x that amount. I talk to more than a 100 students, but only keep up with about that many. I depend on my volunteers to make some out of school contact. I have 7 students scheduled to go to six flags, of which, only one has been to a club on a Monday. Each event draws a different kind of student/kid and I am grateful for the diversity in events Campus Life can offer.

Below is a picture from the middle school all nighter, where we had around 1100 middle school students total. We seperate them into three groups and rotate them between three locations (First Baptist, YMCA, and Skateworld).

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Above, a couple pictures from fear factor club are displayed. We have for the last couple clubs talked about our fears and the things we carry around in our lives (hurts, anger, un-forgiveness). I have been taking advantage of a couple videos, since we have use of the YFC projector, and hope to continue to get these students to open up. One of my students said "forgiving others isn't hard, forgiving yourself is." I hope they all engage the content on that level.

Club Kickoff

Just had the first Club of the year and it was a bit a of a rough day. Club was great and I loved meeting the parents that showed up. Even got a parent involved in a game and he lead the teens to victory. I had pastor Larry help on the BBQ, and again the way this guy supports me is enough encouragement to overcome any rough spots in the day. My staff is a gift from God. They have really stepped up as we enter the school year, and are reaching out and making connections with the students, I wish I could give each one of them a million dollars.

11 students showed up to club, and it was a bit of a busy Monday for several others who informed me that they were most likely to make the fear factor club next week. Two new students to club!

While club numbers are a bit below expectation, I believe they will improve. The connections I have made on campus have been amazing this week. I no longer am required to carry a guest pass on campus, I am volunteering a bit with three different teachers and will be working with youth after school at homework club. I pray that God just continues to plug me in where I am needed and that I can be available to support students spiritually and be a light on the campus. Times the 11 students at club by ten and that is about how many students I have had more than a simple sentence conversation with. Pray that God keeps opening doors and that these students find or go deeper in relationship with Jesus and experience his saving grace.

The rough spots include not being able to find my electronic cables before club in the box I had specifically put them in. I guess I couldn't find the cables, upon further review of that last sentence, because I couldn't find the box either. So I was off to Bi-Mart to buy some cheap cables, which put me a bit behind schedule, So I didn't have the forms to put on the entry table to give students information for facebook or Breakfast Club. I went to plug in my mic to the sound system to discover that someone had crushed the mic, and the back up mic, and the XLR cord was missing. These small things however were just small inconveniences. They did not stop me from telling the students that we are there to share what Jesus has done in our (myself +volunteers) lives and help them discover what He can do in theirs.


Here is the flier of events that the students receive.

Camp revisited

Camp has been over for a while, but we just reunited some of our campers before school started and played a slideshow of their exploits with over 500 photos to choose from. Whether it was the lemonade relay, steal the bacon, noodle wars, canoeing, capture the flag, ultimate Frisbee in the dark, water wars, worship, or whatever; camp was a huge success. Not only did these kids get a chance to have fun, but they got a chance to let their guard down and connect with myself and my staff. They had an opportunity to see what it looks like when people care, to experience how Jesus cares for them, and also to hear the gospel.

I have been planning my butt off for this upcoming school year. I am planning on gathering the communities middle school students for the all nighter that campus life does for them. With no middle school director or program in Elmira it may be difficult, but these kids need the same opportunities to hear the gospel. I pray that someone would step up to run a program at the middle school. As I always pray for more volunteers to also help with the high school program.

Some of the added events will be retreats this coming winter. One for the girls with my female volunteer staff. More than one dodgeball team from Elmira. A highschool all nighter and an Amtrak train trip to go shopping before Christmas. These are some of the relationship building events we are adding.