Just Reach Out and Touch Jesus

Sorry for the delay in posting this video... I have had a little technical difficulty as of late.

We enjoyed the great outdoors for once due to the glorious sunshine. It is not everyday we get to enjoy cloudless skies. When the leaders were sitting around the dinner table before Club we were thinking that we may not see a single kid at Club. Every kid we texted or talked to had other things going on, but we figured that even if one kids showed up to hear about Jesus it would be all worth it. To our surprise one kid after another began to trickle in, by Club time 35 kids were throwing frisbees, kicking soccer balls, and taking in the rays.

Tonight I shared about how Jesus healed the bleeding women. I said that everyone of our stories is not too far off from the women who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. We all have had struggles, hardships, and or pain that we have suffered with for much of our lives. Like the woman we too can reach out and touch Jesus. Jesus has the answers, Jesus has the power to heal.

Jesus Is Love!

A prayer this week was that the love of Jesus would be on display at Club. That His love would be on display in the things we do, the conversations we have, and the way leaders interact with one another as well as with the kids who show up. Last night at Club, Jesus was indeed present.

There was once again a handful of new kids. As well as a handful of kids who have begun to make Monday night a Young Life night. It was a joy to watch leaders interact and connect with a variety of kids and go out of their way to make these new kids feel welcome. If you were to stand back and watch, you would never know that these kids are not the best of friends, that they don't run with the same crowd, and that they don't come to Young Life every week, you would have seen the opposite. Jesus is working, knitting hearts together, and forming common ground. Young Life is common ground, a ground where love is found, a ground where Jesus is.

It was exciting to see Kate share the Gospel with such passion, authority, and power. This was her second or third talk ever at Young Life and she nailed it out of the park. You could hear a pin drop; kids were captivated. JESUS IS LOVE! It doesn't matter what you have done, we have all fallen short. No longer walk in condemnation, but go and sin no more.

Everything Is Meaningless

Kids continue to show up on Monday nights and I ask the question, why exactly are kids always coming? We continue to see new kids come every week, kids I would never expect to show up. To many, we probably sing some pretty dumb songs, to many, we play some stupid games, and we give away some ridiculous prizes, yet kids still come. As I think about this question, I am reminded that in every day life kids are faced with pressures of fitting in, being cool, having it all put together, being successful. In Young Life, we offer a place where kids can really just have fun.... child-like fun. It is not everyday that we are free to jump around catching flying balloons, but as little kids we were, and we loved it. Why does that have to change? These kids are accepted, they are loved, they are free to laugh, sing, and play. They are getting touched by the refreshing hand of Jesus, that is why they come. Everything under the sun is meaningless, everything with out Jesus, and where Jesus is, there is meaning and freedom.

St. Patty Celebration

The house was packed with new faces as well as old. I have not seen that many girls at a Club ever! They might have actually out numbered the guys tonight. When girls come.....guys follow, and when girls are engaged and having fun......guys are too. It's funny how that works. It was an absolute blast tonight, from singing Backstreet Boys, to having a spitting contest, to blowing eggs on one another, to having a cheeseburger challenge, kids were all in it tonight. It is especially fun to look across the room and see kids laughing, singing, yelling, and having their phones out taking video. When those things are happening, you know you are doing something right.

Tonight was also the night that Jerrell had the opportunity to be God's mouthpiece up front. He shared about his struggles growing up with abuse, neglect, and suicide. He shared how most of the time he felt like a broken toy with no purpose. He shared the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet and how through that Jesus showed the greatest extent of his love. Jerrell closed by saying that Jesus will wash the dirtiest places in your life no matter what they are, just like the disciples nasty dirty feet. Jesus loves you that much.

God's Work

I must say it is nice being able to have several Clubs in a row, momentum builds, kids start hearing about Young Life, and we see it in the amount of kids showing up. Kids are all about what is trending, what's cool, and they ask the question are my friends doin it? If those things are happening, more kids are hearing about the love of Jesus! And that is what it is all about...Jesus!

We have two senior boys who have begun to lay down some prayer goals, some things that they want to see God do this spring. One of them is to see Club grow too big for our current location. We are at a little over 50 kids right now, if we had 80 show up we would be too big. They have begun to write down names of kids they want to invite to Club. One boy has been praying for his brother to come to Young Life. This week his brother came. Those are the stories that are fun to hear. Stories of kids growing, reaching out, seeking God ,and in turn witnessing God's faithfulness.

Both of those boys were far away from God their freshmen year. They were no where near a personal relationship with Jesus. Now 4 years later their lives have been changed. All because a Young Life leader decided to enter their world, where they were, and love them. Thank you Jesus for Justin and Marcos, what you are doing in their lives, and what is yet to be done.

March 5th

It really felt like the Holy Spirit was with us tonight! From the mixers, to games, to skits, to songs, to video, to talk, it all went so smoothly. Kids were completely engaged and attentive.

Everything we did felt like we did it together. We started out with a mixer called Human Knot, kids grab hands in a giant circle and have to work together to untangle themselves, we sang Lean On Me, and then played an up front game where the girls fed guys gummy worms with there feet. Nasty!

Kevan had the opportunity tonight to lay the framework for who Jesus is. He shared about how in our world lust is a huge struggle and even excepted, sex for everyone is the norm. He shared about David, and how he was a man after God's heart, yet, he struggled incredibly with lust. He shared about how David could only get so close to God in relationship before he would mess up and a huge gap would form between he and God. He related that to how we can feel when we mess up or do something we shouldn't do. But God did something to close that gap, the Word became flesh and walked among us that we may see. Jesus! It was cool to see kids dialed in and listening to Kevan. I even had some great talks on the car ride home!

We're Back Again!

Since the new year Club has been inconsistent. If there isn't school we don't have Club. There hasn't been much school on Monday's as of late, so it has been hard to find rhythm and build momentum with Club. Finally we are back, and get to have Club for 4 weeks in a row.

Tonight was a night filled with a lot of old faces. A bunch of kids came to Club tonight who we haven't seen for quite some time. It was fun to see them again. It was just all around good to get back to sharing laughs, building memories, and sharing about Jesus. If you are wondering what those two kids are doing in the video... they are slapping each other with hotdogs. The object of the game is to hit the other person with a hotdog, if you laugh you lose, and if your dog breaks you lose. It was definitely a memory. A long with hotdog slapping, we made fun of awkward dating, gave away chocolate, and even sang a song about romance... divine romance that is. Hey, it was the closest club to Valentine's Day, we had to have a little fun with it.

Finally, I shared about Jesus. I shared that Jesus promises that if we follow him, we will see, our questions will be answered. I shared a little bit about why God thinks so highly of us, why he loves us, and calls us beautiful, precious, and prized. I shared about a friend who just had a baby and how he began to weep when he held his baby for the first time. He was filled with joy and pondered how beautiful his baby girl was, how precious, and prized she was. That is Gods love for us.

What are your cracks?

What are your cracks? This question we posed last Club. The answers were eyeopening. A few of the kids answers were: I feel like killing myself everyday... I don't have any good friends, I think it is because of my looks, I am not a standout I'm a shadow... I can't trust my Dad anymore, and the list goes on. This week we took a look at all the cracks kids are dealing with in their lives. The leaders had on opportunity to share their cracks as well using cardboard signs. Kids were impacted by seeing that leaders have much of the same struggles they do. I shared that even with our cracks, dings, and dents, God sees us as beautiful, worthy, and good enough; we are His prized possession and we make His world pretty.

First Club of 2012

 

 

Monday night was our first Club in over a month due to Christmas break, and it is great to be back! Going into the night we were a little uncertain due to basketball games being rescheduled for that night because of the flooding the week before. We knew that many kids would not be coming, but we also knew that it was a great opportunity to reach out and love the kids who would never go to games. Kids came! It is encouraging to know that our Club is made up of far more than just the popular crowd. 

To close out the night I talked about how we get so good at covering up our imperfections, our struggles, our hardships, our cracks. We try to be perfect, but we forget that everyone has cracks. What is your crack? I gave kids the opportunity to right down their struggles, hardships, thoughts, on  a piece of paper and turn them in. How often do we feel comfortable enough to be real? The hope was that kids would be honest, that it would be an opportunity to go a little a deeper. It worked! Kids shared from their hearts. We are all broken! Thank goodness for JESUS!