A collection of stories from our Summer 2012 Newsletter

    You may have heard of the 10/40 window-- it’s a geographic descriptor that represents most of the world’s poorest people groups, many of whom are considered unreached by the gospel. However, some people have begun to refer to the 10/30 window now as well. This “window” isn’t geographic, but is based on age, referring to the 2.4 billion youth in the world between ages 10-30. A large percentage of this age group is not involved in any church and professes no faith. Jonathan Taylor calls this 10-30 age group "the largest unreached people group in human history, larger than the 100 largest geographically defined unreached people groups combined."  

Our South American key leaders

     There is a huge need among teens worldwide.  Mexico, for example, has very few teens involved in the church. In the midst of the crime wave that Mexico has been suffering in recent years a Mexican mayor said "Ask yourself who is doing all this killing. It is our young people. We have failed our young.”  Teens in Mexico need people to come alongside them, love them, mentor them and share the gospel with them, and that’s what Young Life is doing.

     It’s a huge need and calling, one we clearly can’t do alone. But with God’s help it is bearing fruit. I hope this letter can give you a glimpse into how God is at work internationally in that 10/30 window. As Jim Rayburn, Young Life’s founder once said “It’s hard to hold the living water and watch the teenagers around you die of thirst.”  Thanks for helping us and our leaders impact those teens who so badly need Jesus’ living water in Latin America.

CUBA Youth ministry is needed everywhere in Latin America, but perhaps nowhere more than in Cuba. We’ve been praying about starting Young Life in Cuba for some time, but it was clear God was going to have to open some doors to make that happen…so that’s what He did.

Dan (middle) with Wilder and Gisela

     A couple who has supported YL in Chile visited Cuba last year. While visiting they stayed with a young pastor, Wilder, and his family. During their time together, Wilder and his wife, Gisela, expressed the huge need they saw among the teens in Cuba and how they felt called to reach them, but weren’t sure how. As they spoke, the couple from Chile couldn’t contain their excitement-- what they were describing and wanting was Young Life! They promised to put them in touch with YL in Chile and see what could be done. The message went from a leader in Chile, to a staff person in Peru, to me and really piqued our interest.

    Around this same time, our regional director Dan visited Cuba on a church mission trip and connected with Benito, who helped start Prison Fellowship in Cuba many years ago. Benito is over 70 years old, but his heart is still young and very interested in the youth of Cuba. Benito wanted to learn more about YL so he visited the Dominican Republic to see the ministry in action and to discuss how to bring YL to Cuba. Dan had seen the email about Wilder and Gisela and as he and Benito talked, he brought them up. Miraculously, Benito knew the couple—Gisela’s Dad had helped him in the early years of Prison Fellowship!  He agreed they would be a great start as the first leaders for the ministry.

     So in February Wilder and Gisela visited Nicaragua and spent two weeks shadowing our ministry there and learning from our Nica leaders. I met with them during that time and am helping train them as they get this ministry started. They’ve now started to recruit and train leaders and connect with teenagers and will hold their first club next month! What a beautiful model of how this ministry grows: the Holy Spirit tying Cuba, Chile, Peru, the DR, Nicaragua and the US all together in a great symphony to help teens in Cuba come to know Jesus. Please pray for Wilder and Gisela, ministry in Cuba can be both challenging and risky. Pray for their safety, for wisdom, and for God to provide the right leaders as they take on the enormous but God-led task of reaching Cuban teens for Christ.

Jonathan (L) and Ivan (R) in Shell

ECUADOR   Another place where God is clearly on the move is Ecuador. Several years ago an older teen named Ivan and some friends noticed that there were very few teens in church in their town. There were lots of kids in the churches under age 12, but as soon as they got older they disappeared. They decided that someone needed to do something about that, so they started a teen ministry to reach out to kids outside the church. They called it Vida Joven (Young Life in Spanish) without knowing there was a larger youth ministry out there with that name—and began to try to reach out to teens in Shell, Ecuador. They weren’t sure exactly what to do, but kept trying to connect to teens outside the church. A little later Ivan learned about Young Life and contacted us for help. We were able to help him get some training in Colombia and Nicaragua and I’ve been coaching him the last few months. In May, I was able to visit Ecuador for the first time and see what they’ve been doing in person and it was great. It’s clear that Ivan is a gifted young leader with a calling from the Lord. We saw club in Shell and visited potential ministry teams in Quito and Puyo. God is clearly moving, so we’re responding: we’re working to train leaders there and are hoping to hold our first outreach camp there in August.  Please pray for this new ministry!

Our Shell YL team. Gato is in the center and front

Gato    Gato was 17 years old the first time he stumbled into a Vida Joven meeting in Ecuador. He’d been drinking after playing soccer, but he and some friends still went to check out club. Gato was hurting--his Dad was an alcoholic and his family was so poor he usually had to find his own food. Gato didn’t expect much from club, but there was something there he liked about it, so he kept coming back. He started to get to know the Young Life leaders and for the first time, began to feel like he had real friends. He and Ivan began to work together at a mechanic shop and spend a lot of time together. Gato would ask Ivan all kinds of questions—about life, God, the Bible and Jesus. It took a long time and a lot of conversations, but Gato finally decided he needed God and surrendered his life to Christ.

    Gato is now 21 and has really grown. He spoke in club the week I visited and talked about how Jesus has been the friend he always knew he needed. He still plays a lot of soccer, but now he does it with a purpose—to build friendships with the teens he plays with. He’s started to walk with some of these guys the same way Ivan walked with him and now he’s the one who answers their questions about God and life. Jesus has transformed Gato in a beautiful way and he’s excited to help other teens who are like he was.

Jenn with female leaders from South America

A shotgun at camp….  There are times we’re reminded that doing ministry in Latin America is a little different. One of those reminders came at a YL camp in Venezuela, which was held on a ‘finca’ (farmland) outside of town. The students were playing a game called “protect your leader” where they get dressed up and have a ton of fun involving water balloons, flower bombs, mud pies and in the process build a lot of unity. A neighboring farmer heard the commotion, saw some kids running around in fatigues and promptly fired his shotgun(!) a few times in the air to scare off the ‘guerrilla’ army he thought was invading. The leaders say they’ve never felt the pressure to explain YL more quickly or clearly than they did to this farmer!

Thanks for your prayers!