Quick update

  Sorry for the inconsistent update. Crazy and exciting times for Elmira Campus Life. Our spaghetti dinner is next week and will be featured in the Fern Ridge Review.
  Two students accepted Jesus at club. Dale and Haylee responded to the gospel message and stayed after to pray and discuss what the journey with Jesus looks like. Haylee got plugged in with one of my volunteers going to church youth group and Dale has been reading scripture, coming to bible study, and is attending church.
  We will be making some modifications to our clubhouse at the Moose. We will be adding lights and decor soon. Below is a picture of us playing a game at club at the Moose. In the middle is a picture from the girls retreat. On the bottom is Ruben falling asleep at the Middle School All Nighter with me taking advantage of him.

Meeting with students

  Had a spring break that focused on our upcoming Auction.

  While I collected Auction items, and called my regular donors. I also took the spring break to connect with a few students over lunch. You will be encouraged to know that one of these students is making strides in his Christian journey, as he meets with another one of my students for Bible study. I love both of these guys and tried to encourage them to keep growing in Jesus. I ask that you be praying for them as-well.
  With so many distractions, I love camps and retreats, because the opportunity they afford to get away from those distractions, and allow Jesus to actually speak to them. I pray that these students will both attend camp  and have the breakthrough that takes Jesus from Savior to Lord of their life.

Facing a fear

I love watching my volunteer staff grow as they serve. This last week at Club Erica gave her testimony. She was scared and afraid of public speaking. Last year she attempted to give her testimony and had some difficulties. This time, with some encouragement, she had the students full attention. She even broke down and cried once, not because of fear for speaking, but because she was deeply sharing the pains that Christ had taken her through. When it was done the kids applauded. I can't tell you how happy that made me, but how much more so when Erica said, "I have never got applause for my testimony before." I am so happy for Erica, for the kids that got to hear her story, and for God who gets all the glory.


  I am blessed to have amazing donors and sponsors for Campus Life. For the last week I let one of our donors and supporter of Elmira Campus Life Dodgeball, The Farmstore (Vicky and Travis Soverns) hold the championship trophy for the week. It is partnerships like this I am looking to expand in the near future. 

Winter Retreat

  What happens when you have a winter weather advisory and one chain for your bus that is a link to short? The winter retreat was looking doomed. After two hours of trying to make a chain fit on a bus we realized it was a futile effort. A few weeks prior new tires were put on the bus and the chain no longer fit with the increased tread depth. Problems with a previous mechanic at the bus barn and numerous other small errors led to us not having the correct safety gear. We could not proceed safely (and the time we lost trying to put chains on made it a lot darker and more dangerous to proceed.) So our trip looked doomed.
  Many times in life we get to that point where we feel a link short and doomed. I turned the bus around and headed back to Eugene, only being just under an hour away from our destination of Black Butte Ranch. With some quick thinking Shaun and I got permission to crash at Fairfield Baptist Church. If we would have let the kids go home ,and pick them up the next day, to try again the logistical nightmare would not prove worthwhile. I am grateful for Fairfield for helping us try again. The next day we got a new bus with correct chains and headed up the pass again. We waited an hour for weather to clear and arrived at Black Butte Ranch without incident.
  The kids were relatively unfazed. Leaders however, especially Shaun and myself, were a little more drained. Staying up late and waking up early to make sure we did everything to keep kids safe and make this trip happen. When we are a link short God fills in for our (and others) shortcomings.

The Alley

  This week we did club at "The Alley" in Creswell. We blended the Creswell and Elmira clubs. I heard many of my 45 students tell me that we needed a club house. My reply was I am working on it. Glenn Leslie, the director of Creswell's club, presented the Gospel. At least three of my students looked up that they prayed for Jesus to change the course of their life and for salvation.

  I met with one student (I will keep his name private until I get his permission to use it) at lunch the next day and had a great time connecting. I also had the privledge to recommend a church and other Campus Life students he could go with to that church. Be praying as we continue to develop relationships and get these students plugged in.

Dodgeball Season

Dodgeball season is underway. A great way to build team chemistry and teach these students how to work together. It is also an amazing time to build relationships. A few of these 28 dodgeball participants are coming on the winter retreat trip and I know that dodgeball has helped a few kids make a decision to go whom otherwise wouldn't have. Team 1 is still undefeated and the other two are still fine tuning how to work together. Next week we have our last game and the tournament. I hope you will be praying that we make a difference in these students lives and that Jesus is glorified by dodgeball (He is, but you know lets keep praying!).
Also club is going well (facebook has pictures and an 80's dance from 80's night). Last week we talked about excuses vs explanations. I tied the talk into judgement day and who do you want to be a person with an excuse or an explanation.

students play smashface before the game.

Institute and Dodgeball

How do you begin to sum up 8 days of training and spiritual growth? Institute was a whirlwind of information and connecting with the heart of God. I am re-energized to connect with my volunteer staff and students to use the tools of YFC (3 Story and other training). It was really hard to be away from my wife and daughter for that amount of time, but it was great training. I will be sorting through my notes for weeks to come.

My volunteer staff has run the last weeks of club and done an amazing job. Aleck gave the talk two weeks ago and Mandy last week. I love having talented people reaching these students, but know to adequately reach every student on that campus we will need more!

On a side note dodge ball will be starting next week. Practices have already been going on, and I have included what our jerseys will look like. Scotty Barnes has done a story that graced the front page of the local paper (the Fern Ridge Review). Hopefully you get a chance to pick up a copy and see how we continue to make strides in the community. In about a months time we hope to have a meeting to develop a community support team for the Campus Life ministry in our area. The point of a meeting like this is to generate community awareness and involvement to keep the ministry sustainable in our community. One thing we do is turn excess into quality, and what I mean by that is take excess time and money and invest it in the students. The hope is we can do more of that and make this a ministry area that is constantly supported.