Great Wolf

I have been busy. I personally took a job with first student to try and supplement my income. As has been mentioned in my letter money is a woeful commodity. On the bright side we have had some incredible ministry moments over the last month.

Our Great Wolf Trip saw 28 Elmira kids experience a fun time while getting a chance to hear the gospel. A portion of that student count are strong Christian students whom also take the opportunity to reach out to their friends on the trip (and by inviting them to it). Besides pictures of slides and a fort being built inside our bus, the bonding times with students led to amazing relationship development. One student named Alex made a decision to follow Jesus. My intern Ruben and I really wanted to meet with Alex after he started asking questions at commandos club. His decisions along with the amount of growing and striving students in club is leading to a bible study that starts next week before club. Another student gave up his weed habit shortly after the trip. Staying in a hotel room was very conducive for transformative conversations and the movement of the Spirit.

A prayer request is that God would provide a couple more volunteers. With 61 students coming to the last club, and that doesn't include the flux of students who come and go or only come to specific events, we miss some opportunities for connections. My staff does an amazing job, but I want to be sure everyone gets an opportunity to connect. With a student populace of around 450 it is safe to say at least a 1/4 or more, of the students have been involved with campus life at some point. 6 volunteers, myself, and a couple dedicated students are doing all the can. I could use a volunteer just to monitor the door and make sure students don't leave allowing the rest of us to focus on meeting with students. I propose this prayer request because I want to see all these students know Jesus and have as much support as possible.

Bigger and Better

  On the cusp of a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Washington (a trip where you get to pray for 27 Elmira students), Campus Life has been a busy place on the Elmira Campus. Dodgeball season, A Sadie Hawkins Dance, and even a bible study is in the works to be added to the club schedule. Every event with the intent to minister into students lives.
The busyness took the shape last week in the form of a game called bigger and better. This is where students start with a paper clip and must go door to door trading for something "bigger and better" than the object they currently possess. My group set out with the task with much gusto. This year I did not drive my jeep so I told the students not to aim for bigger, but to aim for better, as we did not have much space for big items.
  I am often amazed by the conversation topics of students. Upon receiving University of Oregon memorabilia  the talk of what the students could do with the money came up. Did they want video games, food, clothes...no one students stated he wanted a hooker. A WHAT? This student was obviously joking, but in his heart and the heart of his friends some contemplation did take place. They started to agree and debate about the subject in earnest before I interjected with why that was a stupid idea. The one Christian student in the car spoke up a bit as well. The conversation weaved a few different directions with myself trying to point students towards less self centered thinking and more Christ like thinking.
  Why do we do events like this? So we can have relevant conversations in the lives of students, even ones centering on what to do with money. The night continued until we had acquired a mini-fridge, gun case, white board, and ceramics. I grew a bit closer to all the 4 students in my car and we won (though the old Noti school slide was definitely the biggest object).
 

Nothing is bigger and better than Jesus! The things he is doing are awesome and always amaze me. I am excited to see what he does in the lives of students in the coming weeks and throughout the school year!

Laboring for Jesus

  1 Work Party for Great Wolf Lodge down, at least one if not two more to go to get some of these kids funded to go. The students did a great job ripping up black-berry bushes. Samantha helped her friend Elysa even though she has the trip already paid for.

  Sometimes I get that thought in my head, "I am out hear helping kids pull blackberries when I should be worrying about my paycheck." Not only do I hate this thought because I believe the enemy uses it as discouragement, but I also hate it because I do this job out of calling not because of the money. As some of you may know I have been applying to other jobs over the past 6 months. My intent is not to leave this ministry, but provide for my family. Not only is this an element that needs prayer, but it is an area I would like to see improved. I hope in the next couple months to start a community support team for the Fern Ridge Area for the Campus Life Programs in our community. This team will be an advocate for Campus Life and seek ways to support it through making it known and coming up with ideas to generate funding. It is my heart to see kids come to know Jesus. Salvation calls to these students for them to grasp it and realize the relationship that Jesus has in store for them. I want this ministry to survive when I am called elsewhere. My heart is behind these students and this community!
  I know that some of us have realized that our trip to Heaven has already been paid for. It is our job to help pull the blackberries from these students lives as part of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Another night at club, another 60 students who got to hear the gospel. Dave Williams was our guest speaker (he is a youth pastor in springfield), and his testimony challenged both those that call themselves Christian and those that don't. Hurt by an abusive adopted father, disowned by his church, starved, a thief, in jail for armed robbery, sentenced to death by a doctor for the cancer (one type he still has)... What excuse can you make not to believe in Christ or go to church? This testimony covered many of those areas of pain that these students have. It was powerful and I am grateful Dave brought the word! The students listened well, and Dave even challenged the Christian students to reach out to the hurting. May we all heed that call and reach out to the hurting!
  Thanks again for your support!

(Work party picture, with two pictures from the talk @ Monday's Fear Factor Club. The picture at the very bottom is me sharing the gospel at the middle school all nighter).

Bus load

  No Pictures from Commandos, and I keep forgetting to get a group shot of kids at these events. When you get around 60 kids it makes for a pretty nice group pictures (it also keeps the chaos contained into a small space).
  Commandos was a great event, the Fern Ridge Youth Center helped facilitate by having a place for students to go when they were tagged out. This also provided me an opportunity to give a small presentation of the gospel (the prodigal son) and the Love God has for us through that story, before we began the next round. I could tell some students were captivated by the story by their attention and also by the students whom asked questions after.
  I maxed out my bus with 60 students coming to putters. I was thinking different event, not the high mark of commandos, maybe 30 students to 40. Boy, was I under estimating. It was a great time to connect with students and for them to just have a time away. As one parent said "thanks for another (child's name protected) free night," a partial joke and truth I am sure. Though I do not take these students for a baby sit or fun, the goal is that they see who they are in Christ through the love and care of myself and the staff. Please continue to pray for the students as we head back to the Cafeteria at EHS for the regular mayhem of Club!

The ones who showed up

Students motivations and reasoning can be weird sometimes. Take a table I have visited regularly at lunch for , going on, my third school year. Only one of the girls had previously been to club regularly and another had visited. This table, once just girls (though guys always join a table over time), used to harass me when they were freshman. They even took one of my schedule fliers and used my number off that to text bomb me (send texts from multiple phones at once to one phone to overwhelm it). Eventually maturity started to prevail and I got one of them to go on a six flags trip and get support from one of my caring female staff.
  Now I tell you this story because at my first club one of the girls from that table showed up. At the slip n slide event two more showed up. I don't talk to students for the selfish motivation of them to come to club, but in the genuineness of showing them love in the name of Jesus. When I invited a couple to various trips one of the girls belted out that sounds dumb and she would not be attending. I eventually explained the event to the other students and costs free/cheap and the same girl who called it stupid and declared she was not going took a flier and said "let me ask my mom".The problem is for some reason their is a fear of the new. (Granted that fear subsides a bit when 40-50 of your peers show up to club each week.) They also realize that free food, a trip to taco bell with a busload of 51 kids, fun games, and great bonding time with friends is not all that scary.

  Some of the fear is with the gospel message. One new freshman asked me if it was a "Christian thing". I told him we talk about Spirituality and Jesus and have discussions. He proceeded to tell me it wasn't for him and then had a conversation with me on what he believed about God. So when I say fear, the fear is about something new different, not a fear of what the student usually complains about. This one freshman shows that reasoning and motivation is built upon peer pressure, false idealisms, and a logic that doesn't benefit the student. 

  This leads me back to the table of once only girls and their male friends. What broke them down? More of their friends going and a breakdown in peer pressure? The false thought patterns being debunked? I can never know, but I am excited that they are getting an opportunity to hear the gospel, build relationships with people who care about them, and exterminate the fear that kept them away.

   

Club Kickoff 2012

  We had an amazing club kickoff this last Monday. We held a BBQ at the school and had 36 students show up with some parents and younger siblings in attendance. I used to call the first club Family club, but I realized students didn't show up when I called it this. So our first week is in the books. I don't get to excited about numbers for various reasons (primarily because loving kids isn't a numbers game), but this turnout number is awesome in terms of it being the first club and beating the high mark for a club in winter of last year (26). Last year only a dozen students made it to the first club.
  Part of the key to making club successful is having the students take more and more ownership of club. They have a full year of experience with it, I am more involved on campus, and they are more involved with club. With Mandy becoming the Director for Fern Ridge Middle School Campus Life, students are now having the opportunity to volunteer more with the middle schoolers and mentor them. Above all God has blessed us, and I look forward to seeing what he does in the students lives. Because more important than the numbers is the students learning about who Jesus is and what real Love from Him looks like.
  I had one students tell me at lunch that he could not come to club because it was a Christian thing. I told him we do talk about spiritual things concerning Jesus, but that he was by no means excluded. I explained that a lot of students who come to club are not Christian. While he was trying to tell me that club was not for him he began to start a conversation about his thoughts on God. I encouraged him to come to club after chatting for a bit, because club is a great place to begin and continue that discussion.
  On a different not, I have had several interviews over the past couple months. Recently I had another interview and I am at the point where I would like that supplementary income. Please pray that I get the job. I would like to contribute more of the money I get for Campus Life to the kids and less to my salary. My heart is for them. I also have a heart to support my family and to achieve my hearts dreams I need another job (or a big donor to support me with a ton of cash). Please continue to pray that God leads me, my family, and the students.

Project Hope

4 Schools serviced by spreading bark dust and pulling weeds. Campus Life Students, The Farm Store, Fern Ridge Christian Church, Veneta United Methodist, and Fern Ridge Faith Center all joined together to serve our community. We showed the love of Jesus through our service and have hope that we can do more for our district in these hard economic times. The day culminated for the volunteers in a free lunch at Fern Ridge Faith Center's Block Party. It was great to see students receive school supplies and The Church together at this event. Seeing God's people move as one is amazing and I am glad I had the opportunity to partner with my Brother's and Sisters in Christ.

Below are some pictures from Middle School Camp and the Project Hope workday. I was program-lead along with fellow director Chuck Taylor. I am excited to report that 17 students reported to have accepted Jesus for the first time. Hopefully they can take that love and strength back into some pretty rough home lives.

For program we performed some magic ala "The Prestige". I performed a card trick, made a quarter disappear, read someones mind, and through a ball through a door and had Cody go and chase it while simultaneously his brother Jeremy came in the other door. The Kids were speechless (until we spoiled the trick later). We coordinated the games and activities as well as a skit. One of the benefits to helping with the middle school camp is the opportunity for experience I can pass along to our New Director Mandy Robertson at Fern Ridge Middle School. Mandy has been an amazing volunteer for Campus Life at the High School and has run Child Evangelism Fellowship on the FRMS campus. Our goal is to reach every student at Youth For Christ and that can not be done if you are not on campus.

I am excited for this next school year. We have some big trips planned! Registration got me pumped to meet the new freshman and to hear all the stories of summer adventures. More details to come.