YL Training in Latin America

Dear Friends, Thanks for your continued prayers for Jenn and I and Young Life in Latin America. We’re really grateful we get to be part of Young Life and how God is using it to call teenagers to Him. To show you a little of what it looks like I wanted to share with you a short note I received from a YL missionary in Nicaragua in January.       “After the talk last night at club we had a time of 20 minutes of silence where we asked the kids to find a place alone to sit down outside and talk to God. It was an emotional time for many. We heard crying - there were a lot of kids in tears, allowing the love of God into their hearts and letting go of things that have hurt them in their past. It was a moment that I will remember.       I often wish my friends could be here at times like this. The power of the Holy Spirit and His forgiveness and love is evident in so many faces. There is just a joy that is hard to share in words. Last week, a you...

   Thanks for your prayers for Jenn and and for me during our time at Young Life’s Cross Cultural Orientation training and then for me in the DR in January. It really was great to be at both events. YL CCO 2014 CCO is always refreshing. We get to be with missionaries who are going to be sent all over the world to minister to teenagers. This year ranged from Mexico to Singapore to Armenia and beyond. The training we offer is meant in big part to prepare for the great challenge of ministering in and transitioning to new cultures and languages, but it’s also always a great reminder of how God calls and specially equips imperfect people like us to be part of His great plan.   We were able to look at 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 together and be reminded of how we’ve been picked, called, ‘surprised’, invigorated and enlivened by the Lord to do this work. What a privilege.       I was also able to spend a few days at our camp in the Dominican R...

Dear Friends….     Happy Holidays! We’re excited to share with you some of what’s going on in Young Life in Latin America. Thanks for making all this possible. You’ll read here about growing ministry in Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and throughout a region that really has so many deep needs. At times thinking about the problems of teens in these countries seems overwhelming—broken families, gangs, emotional issues, poverty, lack of education—the list goes on and on. But God has really been using Isaiah 40 to speak to me this year-- “ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,   the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”     The reality is I do know and I have heard and I’m thankful for that-- thankful that we do not do this work alone or in our power, thankful for the YL lead...

Dear Friends,           Thanks for all your prayers for us in our travels the last couple months. Our month serving in Colorado was great and Area Director training in Nicaragua was powerful too. So I wanted to tell you where we’ve seen God at work. Work Crew Being in charge of work crew at a Young Life camp is a lot of work— there are a ton of meals to serve, dishes to do, rooms to clean and events to put on every day and the work crew does it all—which makes for a busy month. But we loved doing it with a very special group of leaders and 34 teenagers and God really used this. These teens were a widely varied group, many with back stories of broken families, deep pain, depression, alcohol, drugs and more, but also real moments of God’s grace. All of us brought our pain and our hope that God would use this time to help us grow and bless others. And He did. Through our devo and worship times, through serving others and through liv...

The WHY of Young Life                                                         In talking about God’s plan to reach the world, David Platt says “ This kind of movement involves all of us. Every single follower of Christ fishing for men. Every single disciple making disciples. No more spectators. Instead, ordinary people spreading the gospel in extraordinary ways all over the world.”        I read that quote and I think of Young Life leaders all around the world, entering into the culture of teenagers and sharing Jesus. It is a huge calling and not easy, but sometimes we do get glimpses of how God uses that investment. I recently received the following note from a former YL kid in the Dominican Republic explaining w...

 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....

Dear Friends,       Thanks for your prayers for Jenn and I’s trip to the Dominican Republic last week. We really enjoyed the time seeing old friends, training leaders and caring for Young Life staff. God is clearly at work in YL in the DR—since Jenn and I left our role there just a few years ago, the ministry has almost doubled in the number of clubs and students involved!   Seeing what is happening there is a great reminder that ministry isn’t our work, but God’s and we’re privileged enough to be invited to join in.  The DR staff and student staff  Jenn with Katie and Emily, two of the women she coaches....and Emilio. We were so blessed to see leaders we’ve known for years who are growing and maturing. When Jenn and I lived in the DR, Fernando and Esther were college students who were helping lead clubs ---- now they’re married and they were sent as missionaries to plant a new area for Young Life. They’ve done such a great job of ...