YL Training in Latin America

  Equipping Leaders          There are very few places in the world more broken than Haiti . It’s the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Global Hunger Index ranks it as one of the most undernourished countries in the world, and it’s considered one of the most corrupt countries by all accounts as well. Our Haitian team that went to Kenya       Some of these problems have only worsened despite the massive economic aid to Haiti following the devastating earthquake of January 2010. For example, the Red Cross raised over 500 million dollars to help Haiti and yet NPR says this resulted in “a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success. ” Many other aid attempts didn’t fare much better. Part of the reason many believe the aid has helped so little is an inability or unwillingness by organizations to equip and involve Haitians as part of the solution. This is also part of why I’m so excited about Young Life in Haiti .       Youn

When you picture a missionary, what do they look like? Quite often in response to that question I think we tend to picture missionaries as American ( or at least white people ). But it's exciting to realize that many missionaries to foreign countries are NOT from the US, not white, and that number is growing every day. Check out the photo above and you'll see a bunch of missionaries in Central America ( and one white guy ). At the end of September we held two key Young Life trainings in Nicaragua . The first was with seven Nicaraguans who are now ministering with Young Life in Honduras , El Salvador and Guatemala. These are missionaries who have left home and family to live in foreign lands and build up teams to minister to teens and they are a remarkable group. We also held a training for 35 YL Area Directors from 7 different countries , who really are leading lots of folks to be missionaries into the world of teenagers in their own neighborhoods. Both of these times

A Mission Community What is Young Life? An early mission statement of Young Life in part said this: ‘ Young Life is a mission community of Christ-centered people committed to reaching adolescent youth with the Gospel.’   The official statement has changed, but the focus is still true- YL done well depends on a community of believers on a mission together reaching out to teenagers. Being a true mission community means much more than working together, it means living life together with a purpose. I saw this being lived out very well in Argentina this spring. Carolina Pi and her husband Eduardo have done a tremendous job of bringing together a community of people who live life together and impact teens for Christ. They started with a prayer and a vision and with one club in their town of Corrientes and as people felt the impact of being part of that community the movement grew.         Jonny is a great example of the impact this can have. Jonny was a college student in Corrientes whe

The wall of miracles At our Regional leader training in Costa Rica a few weeks ago, we took some to stop and think and share about the miracles God has worked in Young Life Latin America . We thought we might share for an hour or so, but we went for more than double that as the stories of Grace flowed. God providing leaders were there were none, more kids to camp than seemed remotely possible, lives that were lost now fully transformed, local churches involved, relationships healed, funding provided —and the list goes on. There have been hard times and are real challenges still to come, but sharing together were we’ve been blessed was a great reminder of how God has been providing. And it was a reminder that this is really His ministry and we’re in His hands reaching out to teenagers that He loves.   “A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when th

Je Bondye ap gaden, Tout kote nou pase.... “God will watch over you wherever you go.” (A Creole worship song) Training Camp in Haiti “Scott, I am not good. Lilie—she lost our baby last night”. My friend Bouzy, a Young Life staff member in Haiti, had come to pick me up my final morning there. We had just finished a very successful training camp for volunteer leaders. We had over 150 leaders there and it was a really great camp, the camp helped leaders feel more called to ministry and more equipped to reach teenagers and help them grow in faith. It was a big success and we were celebrating. But the morning after camp Bouzy looked tired and broken and then he explained why. His wife Lilie had been 3 months pregnant, they had previously suffered two miscarriages but were hopeful this time would be different--and then the night after we returned from camp she began bleeding, a lot of bleeding…. I was reading through the book of Acts while in Haiti. In Acts, you can see over and o