Christian community lived out....


Kids at club in Peñasco
What are the best examples of Christian community you've ever seen or experienced? I saw a great one last week that I want to share with you. I was in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico last week and it was really a blessing for me to spend time with Alberto Martinez and the team there and see their ministry in action. But what I think I enjoyed most of my visit was the time I spent with a group of junior leaders. This is a group of teenagers who have been involved in the Young Life ministry for a couple years now and are learning to be leaders for younger teens. This group reminded me of the importance of relationships and community in impacting the world with the gospel. Acts 2:42 talks about the early church and says “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” and I was reminded of this kind of fellowship by this group.



The Junior leaders. Nancy is in the back on the right.
Nancy Hernandez has been one key to their growth. Nancy has lived in the US and different parts of Mexico, but stayed in Peñasco to volunteer with YL because she feels strongly God has called her there. She’s invested a lot in discipling this group of jr. leaders—spending time with them, eating meals together, studying the Bible and discussing what Jesus means to them—and it’s great to see the impact that has had. She and Alberto have lived what David Platt talks about in his book Radical: “Making disciples is not an easy process. It is trying. It is messy. It is slow, tedious, even painful at times. It is all these things because it is relational….As we share the gospel, we impart life, and this is the essence of making disciples. Sharing the life of Christ.” This group is sharing Jesus and life together. It’s very clear they love being together. While I was there they had a Thursday night Bible study, led club together on Friday night, had a leader training and dinner on Saturday and then as that late night dinner wrapped up, most of them went to the Vida Joven house to play Monopoly together! There is a very real fellowship and love in the group that has impacted them deeply and has truly ‘imparted life’.
    Toño is one of the teens who has long hair and a real hard rock style, he says what drew him into Young Life was how he felt welcomed and cared for and loved just as he was—which had never happened for him before. Since he first arrived, he’s come to know Jesus and grown greatly. While he shared it was clear how much the love of this group has meant to him and excited he is that God wants to use him to share that message with other teens who are like him!
    Mikey and Denise shared as well about how they had heard of Jesus before coming to Young Life, but really had no idea what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and ask him into their lives until they were at YL camp. Mikey is so thankful for that moment when he was asked if he wanted to follow Jesus, because it introduced him to his best friend and has changed his life radically. Both Mikey and Denise couldn’t say enough about this group that has been walking and growing with them and what that has meant for their lives.   
      The real beauty of this group is that they have been transformed by Jesus and are now wanting to help other teens in the same way. These jr. leaders will be at camp next month helping lead cabin times with other teens and helping guide bible studies with them in the months ahead—helping others come to know the fellowship, love and peace they’ve found in Jesus. Disciples who are making other disciples—what a beautiful picture of what Jesus has called us to.
Leaders and Committee in Peñasco
Please be praying for this group in Peñasco and their camp in April, and also for Jenn and I as we travel to Costa Rica next week to support and train the international school staff and national leaders there.

Thanks as always for your prayers and support,

Scott



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flat tires in Bogota

Image
The first flat tire isn’t a big deal—it’s the second one you need to be worried about.     A good friend once told me this Flat tire #2 while we were traveling over some extremely rough roads in Haiti. We only had one flat tire on that trip ( below average actually for those roads ), so no problem.   I hadn’t thought about that for a while until traveling in Colombia a couple weeks ago. Our bus there had a flat tire on our way to a leader’s retreat we were holding outside of Bogota.   A 2 ½ hour ride turned into 5 hours, but no real trouble, just more time to laugh, hang out at a gas station, play with some stray dogs and sleep on the bus. The second flat tire though (same bus, different tire) happened on our way back to Bogota, it shouldn’t have been too terrible except it was on a curvy mountain road…. with no shoulder.…at night….and the old tire wouldn’t budge….and I had to catch a redeye flight late that night. It’s the second one you need to be worrie...
Read more

Dominican Training Camp and Emilio's story

Image
How many campers would you put at a camp that has a capacity of 95? For most of us, that answer is pretty clearly 95 or less. But at our training camp for leaders in the Dominican Republic in March the answer was 157! It was our largest training camp ever and it meant people were sleeping in every available space-- on mattresses, sleeping pads, sleeping bags or whatever we could find. I ended up with a lovely space on our camp manager’s office floor. But it also meant a great deal of fun with a big group of potential leaders who were excited to learn and grow. The amazing thing about this is that well over half of that 157 are teenagers who accepted Christ in the last two years through Vida Joven and they’re now desiring to learn to share what they’ve come to know with their friends and classmates. This is the fruit of a lot of outreach and discipleship by our leaders in the Dominican Republic. They’ve really dedicated themselves to walking with these kids the last two years and helpi...
Read more

Scars and Grace

Image
Dear Friends,     The picture you see here is of my friend Noyo in Haiti. A recent visitor to Haiti wrote a great blog entry about Noyo and his experiences as Young Life leader in Haiti that you’ll be blessed to read. Click on  Scars  that tell of the good life   to read an amazing story of faithfulness, grace and a God-centered mission.      I’d love for you to be praying for the Haitian YL team especially this month.   Soon I’ll be spending 5 days in Haiti with Noyo and our Haitian leadership team as we’ll celebrate what God is doing through them and then evaluate and plan and pray about training more Haitian YL leaders. Pray God would give a lot of wisdom and insight into how to best support these amazing leaders. Right after that I’ll be in the Dominican Republic to get some time with key staff and be with a work team from Brookside CRC’s youth group. It’ll be a full and exciting month, thanks for praying for these trips an...
Read more