Reaching out…

End of a great week.

We got home two days ago, after a week of going full speed with a bunch of High Schoolers we needed a couple of days to re-settle with our family.

Young Life ALWAYS puts on a great camp. It is really solid from the speaking to the entertainment. Everything that Young Life does is top-shelf. This approach goes back to 1941 when Jim Rayburn founded Young Life. Young Life is the organization that led my wife back to Jesus and the organization that we have been a part of for the last 14 years.

It is always amazing to me what can happen in the lives of teenagers when adults engage and show interest.

There was a moment that I will remember forever. There was a student there that I so enjoyed getting to know. We spent a lot of time together, skating, hanging out, drinking coffee. After one of the life signs, the students wanted to go for a walk. We ended up walking to the bridge where the student said, with tears in his eyes that he wanted change in his life. So there we were on the bridge, the bridge that seperates the camp from the location where students symbolically leave their old life behind. So there we were on the bridge and I heard some of the sweetest words uttered by a high school student as he prayed for change in his life. At that moment, I, at twice his age, I felt so lucky to be there in that moment experiencing life with this student.

Every year there are a lot of kids who meet Christ at Young Life camp and we had our share. I am always cautious to release the number as I believe that God is active regardless of how many kids come to an eternal relationship with their creator. With that said, please pray for these new fragile relationships as they venture into a new life.

Thanks.

Yesterday we talked about SIN. It isn’t a fun topic, nor is it a topic that we should just skip over lightly. It is going to to create tension in camp. Yesterday in the leaders meeting the group was talking about the pranks that are happening, which are in response to students confused about how to handle their emotions. The thing in 600 kids confused is different than 700 kids and that additional 100 kids could be the difference between the ability to monitor the pranks the chance that one could slip by.

Our leaders are tired, they are starting to take little naps here and there to keep up with kids, which is a great thing, but it becomes a bad thing when the nap is not enough. So continue to pray for the leaders for renewed energy.

Last night was probably the greatest night in the history of the lives of some of our young campers as activity after activity was piled on culminating in a midnight pool party. Please pray for our campers that Jesus would continue to stir in their hearts and do mighty things. We can visually see a change in our campers.  I don’t know how to explain it other than saying, What was once NORMAL for a kid, has been broken down, and been replaced with a level of comfort, and that is pretty spectacular.

God is good, please keep praying for our group.

We just finished Day 3 of Wasington Family Ranch, I haven’t written yet, because there just hasn’t been a moment to sit down and string together enough thoughts to do it.  The camp is the largest that Washington Family Ranch has ever experienced with 723 campers, we have 40 campers and that is the highest number of kids that we have ever brought.  It worked out that we are staying in condos ½ mile away from the main part of camp.

Our kids are connecting with kids from other areas, but it is to a much smaller degree. Instead, a lot more community is being established WITHIN our group, which in my case has had a great impact on cabin time.

A couple of the kids who are here, who have no church background came to club on the first night and said “THAT IS THE COOLEST THING THAT I HAVE EVER BEEN A PART OF.” Over time I have come to take for granted the power of club, but last night as I am sitting there with one of my HS friends and I am watching him reach places of Joy, I don’t think he has been for a long time, it brought to tears.  It hit me, “God is using this place, this moment to reach this kid with a picture of the gospel.” Because at club, there are a lot of funny moments and there is a lot of energy, BUT there is also some of the best teaching about Jesus that I have ever sat under.

Yesterday we talked about NEED, our need for Christ, our need for each other, our need that can only be filled through Jesus Christ. In my cabin time that brought up a lot of emotions as it did for everyone around camp.   Emotions aren’t good or bad, they are just emotions.  It is our job as Young Life leaders to receive those emotions and help kids learn to process them. So we are going to start having 1-on-1s begin today.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS – My cabin has really gotten into skate boarding, and so a couple of us figured out how to drop in on a 8 foot half pipe, “Dropping in” means taking the front of the skate board, hanging it off the edge and the stepping down on it until it is pointing straight down and you skate down an 8 foot half pipe. This was a huge moment for me and this was a huge moment for those that accomplished the feet. For others it was just amazing that they were able to skate down a decline. It was really cool.  When the guys dropped in, we erupted cheering for the accomplishment. There are a lot of guys proud about what they were able to accomplish. The goal is to Drop in on the 12 foot ramp in order to fly into the foam pit.

Please continue to pray for our group. Our leaders are tired, crazy tired and figuring out ways to both be present with the campers that we have, while maintain enough of an energy backup that they can be present tomorrow/rest-of-week as well.

June 1^st, marked our sixth year in Port Townsend as Area Director of Young Life.

It all started with Jessica and me attempting to listen to, and heed the call of God on our lives. Our choice to move here didn’t make sense to some of our family, friends and coworkers.

Elijah turned 2, the day of our move, Noah was 3 months old. We were moving to a town we had only visited, AND to a studio apartment with no doors. This also defied logic.

6 years later we have had the opportunity to work with a lot of students, and adults.

Yesterday, I was driving across town, and I saw a student that I met when we first moved to town, he was a freshman six years ago and came to Club, our weekly outreach event.

A quick sidenote about this student, Jessica and I went out on a date for Valentines Day a couple of years back and this student was in charge of keeping people’s water glasses full. I keyed in on this, so I drank my water VERY QUICKLY, he came over and filled it back up.  I did it again, he filled it up again. Finally his manager noticed that my cup was always empty and he had a “talk” with the student. In total I drank 3 full pitchers of water that night. I am pretty sure that was the moment for this student that I earned the right to be heard.

So yesterday when this student was getting a ride from me, we started talking about future plans, and purpose. I explained that making a lot of money is not a purpose, it is an outcome. Purpose comes from WHY you do things. I shared that my purpose was set in pleasing the Creator of the Universe, God. And somewhere, somehow, the money would be a part of it and that until this student finds his purpose, he is going to feel empty and worthless, basically how he is feeling right now.

We get to speak truth into the lives of teenagers. God ordained truth. A truth so powerful that it represents the only true life changing force offered to these teenagers.

6 years of ministry. We have worked with thousands of kids. We have been faithful to our calling and seen lives changed eternally.  We have been changed through that process.

We are currently facing our most difficult time financially to date.  We NEED to find new MONTHLY givers. Please pray with us that God would be cultivating in the hearts of people the desire to partner with us for long term ministry.

Hey we are gearing up for camp again, which is awesome!  Our numbers signed up far exceed anything that we have ever tried to accomplish on the Olympic Peninsula, or at least in the last 15 years of oral history.  We are excited about things to come and the kids are going to need help with the $$$ to get there.  I wanted to include a link to last years camp where I blogged every day about the goings-on of life.

Read through this and pray over it as we prepare what will turn out to be the best week in the life of about 45 teenagers.

http://opyl.org/category/camp/wfr-2009/

A couple of stories.

I think the cool thing about this whole story for me is that God will use camp this summer to bring about new life, and God is using the death of this teen’s dad to bring about new life. In so many ways it is such a beautiful reflection of the cross. And our prayer is a reflection of what we try to do in Young Life.  The power of the cross is that it is just as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago.

Our local area finances have dropped into deficit and now we are praying that God would whisper in the ears of other faithful followers that they would be called to give to Olympic Peninsula Young Life. So this is how you can pray:

So many things to share: We took possession of the second House at the beginning of January, and now we are actively recruiting to find people that can move into the houses and we can launch this aspect of our ministry.  The best way to help right now is to get the word out. Please forward this along to whomever might benefit from being part of this opportunity.

We just got back from the Regional Leadership day where we promoted Intentional community to near 1000 Young Life leaders from around the Puget Sound. We also got fliers into the hands of the Young Life at the University of Washington and Western Washington University. In March, there is a career fair at Seattle Pacific University where we will be helping staff a table for Young Life.

We have a PDF ( http://www.opyl.org/OPICC.pdf ) and application for the house here ( http://www.opyl.org/YLICC_Application_packet.doc ).

A brief, recent history…. It was the beginning January, and I got the call saying that the second house was ready.  I had the overwhelming sense of importance. On the one hand, this effort will launch a new era of Young Life ministry on the Olympic Peninsula, on the other hand, this is taking a large risk when the economics of the peninsula made it seem almost impossible.

In some ways it reminds of what I think Gideon may have felt (JUDGES 7:1-25) when he was instructed to bring his servant Purah with him if he had any doubts, and that he would be encouraged ( Judges 7:9-13 ).

God loves teenagers, way more than we ever could. God loves the Olympic Peninsula way more than we ever could. It is God’s battle and he is enlisting us as the few who face the many.

We need your help. Pray big prayers, believe big things.

1. Pray with us for the ministry to come
2. Forward this message to whoever might benefit from the community
3. Consider, helping financially

Thanks for walking alongside us on this. God is Good!

Paul