Club...It's not the meat of what we do

Last night I was driving home from club (our number for club was low....But we had a BLAST), and I was quickly reminded of all of the things that are happening outside of club. It's so easy to base my performance on how many kids come to Young Life club, but that wouldn't be accurate at all as to how God is using me and my team in the lives of kids in East Peoria.

We had training on Sunday as a whole area (so all of the leaders in all of the schools we are involved in) and we talked about Contact Work. Contact work is the meat of what we do in Young Life. It's going where kids are.... It's taking kids that we know out for ice cream... It's showing up to a HS football game... It's walking through the halls of the school. And I'm excited about our team as we move forward with this contact work piece. Being strategic in where we go, what we do, and how we go further in our relationships with kids.

Saturday night I had a wonderful opportunity. Last week the Pumpkin Festival was in the area (morton, IL is the pumpkin capitol of the world...so it's kind of a big deal). So I contacted a couple of kids to take them with me, and then they brought along a friend that I didn't know. We had so much fun together. On the main stage at the festival they had the dueling pianos...and we LOVED it. Singing along with them, people staring at us because of how much fun we were having, laughing like there was no tomorrow, being able to put our arms around each other and sway; each of these things reminded me why I do what I do.
Then... On the way home they were talking about a bon fire that was cancelled that they were going to go to. So conversation started to happen about what they were going to do now...So I had them over to my house to have our own little bon fire. As we sat around the fire I got to know Bre a little more (we had just met that night). The small talk started to dwindle down and I started to ask them questions about life. I thought to myself, 'I will do a disservice to these kids if we just have surface level conversation around this fire.' The first thing I asked them was their 'High' and 'Low' since the school year had started. They all quickly jumped to answer that 'Tonight was the best night we have had since school started.' I want to tell you that as a Young Life leader I was celebrating so much inside as they said that. And it was all because of a simple text to the girls about going to the pumpkin festival. And God did the rest.
Because of that contact work we were able to talk about their lows of the past few weeks as well; being able to be real with each other about drama with friends, boyfriends, pressures, and family.

So whether or not we have 10 kids at club or 40... I know that things like this are happening not just with myself but with other members of my team.... And that's why I do what I do.

Thanks for your support!! :-)

You blink...and it's here

Our first club is less than a week away. I cannot believe it. But I'm so ready for it. I'm ready to see all of our kids gathered at one place and time to be together, I'm ready to meet their friends that they want to be a part of what's going on, I'm ready to see how God leads my team this year, and I'm excited for who He wants to bring to the table with us.

On that note, this last week I found out that I really only have 4 leaders that are fully committed. 2 of my leaders are having a baby in October and have other commitments on Monday nights... So we are in prayer about other adults in the community joining in the work that God is doing at the high school in East Peoria.

The coolest thing happened yesterday though. My dad and I had a conversation about my need for leaders and I expressed to him my anxieties of having such a small team. Yesterday I'm sitting at my table working on a few things and my dad calls me. He is telling me about this 'kid' (he's 21) that has been working for him on his job the last couple of weeks. Well yesterday he had to lay him off because they didn't need the extra help anymore. As the guy was pulling away, something hit my dad (it was definitely God I think) my dad stopped him and told him about YL in EP and asked if he would be interested in meeting with me about some leadership opportunities. And Mike was excited about it. So I met him out at my parents house yesterday and told him about what we are doing, and just like that we are meeting on Saturday to go through the pillars of YL and he will be observing our club on Monday.
God is so good! I'm really excited about this, and I hope that Mike is an answer to prayer (as well as a few others.)

Things like this remind me of the faithfulness of God and the power of prayer.

Thanks for your support!!