YFCamp Prep

Last year was my first experience with YFCamp. I went as somewhat of a last minute addition for a co-worker who didn't have a female volunteer to go with his girls. I didn't know any of the girls before camp and still totally had a blast and got to know each of the girls really well. This year we are taking high school students to camp at an out of state location! We are heading all the way up to Michigan, and no we are not flying. All together it will be pretty close to a 24 hour road trip. I am actually looking forward to this part of the trip, anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy a good road trip! Not to mention its a good bonding time for the students to get to know one another as well as us leaders. I am not only looking forward to the road trip, and getting out of the Florida heat though.
The YFCamp slogan is "Where everything changes," and I believe that to be true! Camp is one opportunity where we can shut up everything from the world for these students, and let them hear from God. The result of last summer when I didn't know the girls that I went with at all makes me very excited for this year where I am familar with most of the students going. It really is going to be a great trip and camp. Please pray for us we leave on Saturday, the 18th and return somtime on the 26th. Pray that God would change the lives of these teens and move in my heart as well.

Year One

Well here I am at the beginning of my second year at Youth for Christ. I have learned so much in my first year of ministry. I have a long way go but I already know some things that I want to change for next year.
First of all in the YFC mission statement it states that "..We consistently pursue lost students." Being a person who usually has no problem attracting people and making new friends, I have learned that there is a big difference between befriending students and pursuing them. It really shouldn't have taken me soo long to catch onto this one, everyone wants to be pursued. We all want to know that people want to be our friends or reminders of love from our loved ones. I am learning how instrumental this concept is to what I do as I am meeting students...they need to constantly be seeing my interest in them and their lives.
Another thought that I have stumbled into is how in an evangelistic ministry I must market Campus Life better. After training last summer I really took hold of the idea that this was a relational ministry and so I concentrated only on relationships but without marketing it became increasingly hard to build relationships without new students attending club. I need to not be afraid to invite and tell students about what I do. Campus Life is a fantastic opportunity, and I need to be more proud of what I do there...sharing the Gospel.
There are so many other lessons that I have learned in this first year of ministry. Most of the lessons however have been me learning about myself. I have become very aware of the ways that I personally get in the way of what God is doing around me and through me. Ministry is hard, its challenging spiritually, professionally, and personally. Its hard to feel successful when the measuring stick that you are put up against is Jesus. Praise God that what He sees when He looks at me is Jesus.

Movies

So last night Adam (my boyfriend) and I went to see the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire,' great movie by the way. As we were waiting through the previews that they always show before a movie (fyi, one of my favorite reasons to go to the theaters) a preview that kinda scared me appeared. Nope not a literal scary movie but an idea that I can't believe somebody got paid to come up with? "G-Force" is a movie about gerbals who are secret agents? What? I know its true, someone actually got paid money to come up with the premis for this movie. Sure its just a kids movie and I think kids will like it, but as I saw this I started thinking up some dumb ideas myself of movies that could be made....

-the 'tree' characters from the "Lord of the Rings" movies (and books, yes i know they were books first)...i think they should get there own movie. It could be similar to "The Never Ending Story", slow moving and kinda creepy.

-A "Life Musical", very much like "High School Musical" but with adults in the work place. Kinda like 'American Idol' meets "the Office".

-In light of cheerleading season being over I think if gerbals can be secret agents that farm animals can do gymnastics?

-How about a Documentary of people on a plane. I think we could all agree that we've met some pretty interestin folks on plane rides, the climax could be when the plane goes down and the only thing to document these peoples lives is this video....

So here are my dumb movie ideas. Wouldnt' be surprised if a couple of them really already existed but I just want the record to state that i want to get paid for my dumb ideas too!

Balance

My life has always had a crazy flavor to it...however lately there seems to be a little extra, or a lot extra? Over this month I have been out of town a couple of times and plan to be out of town one more time yet. I feel as though I am juggling much more than I ever have before. I feel that my professional life is going well yet, somehow I feel like I'm losing my grip on my personal life. But then again anytime my personal life is going well my professional life lacks. So many times I feel like I have the perfect balance, and then something gets all out of whack? I don't ever see it coming and I don't understand why I can't see it coming. I mean I should, shouldn't I? You would think that I would feel pressure somewhere or catch something about to go wrong. Nope it just happens and I feel like a total victim.
How do you accomplish having a happy personal life, and a flourishing ministry? Before I got into this position I would have thought that your life had to be the ministry and in many ways I still believe that to be true, but I am not Jesus who constantly moved about His life as God. I am just a single gal...I can't imagine the balance that is required for a wife or mother? I know that the key is to rest in the strength of the Holy Spirit, but when your life is go go go its hard to see where you are resting and where you are not being a good steward. One thing that I can say is that in life there have only been a couple times where I have felt the peace that I do right now in my life. I know that I am where God wants me to be, and doing what He wants me to be doing. I am happy, I guess I just desire to control too much. I bet there really is no such thing as "balance" in life or in ministry, I imagine its different for everyone and different for every season in life.

High School Drama

As I have been spending more time on the high school campus I am increasingly aware of the drama that consumes their lives. I have been asked by students at different times this week how? or why? I put up with them. For the most part I laugh it off and make a joke about how what seems like the end of the world to them is so amusing to me. And its true, I think that in many ways it is funny how they break down with the simplest things, well at least what seems simple to me. In Youth for Christ something often stated is "to live life with the students", at first hearing this I was like "Duh, in youth ministry how else are you going to get to know them?" But now having spent more time IN their world (school) and not just at church or Campus Life I am convicted. In high school as the smallest things shatter their world some of the most serious, and heartbreaking things are laughed about in the event of being "cool."
I have a girl that is on the cheerleading squad who was bragging to a friend about having sex with her boyfriend in the back of his mom's van. And they both laughed and joked about it as if it was the greatest acomplishment she could of had this semester. It broke my heart to hear this....Is this what living life with students really looks like? Another girl who I have spent sometime with has been concerned for a friend of hers who regularly comes to school drunk and leaves at lunch to get "high." Being in their world breaks my heart. I have always known that this job is much bigger than me, and now knowing the faces and names that go with these stories I am humbled and broken that the God of the universe would even think that I could "live life" with these students. I am consistently overwhelmed by the favor that God has given me with these students, that they would share any part of their story with me. I am convinced that not only do I need prayer and strength from God to approach these stories, but the entire youth population needs prayer to get through their stories and their drama.

Next step

So plenty of new news to update everyone on. First and most exciting is the new man in my life. Adam is a friend of mine that i have known since moving to West Palm Beach. We'd been spending more time together and we have finally made it offical:) I'm so happy and excited. He left for Costa Rica this morning to take some students on a mission trip, and I think i'm going to miss him. Kinda funny how in a matter of days your perspective and concern for someone can change so much.
Campus Life is going in a slightly new direction this semester in an effort to reach more of the student population at Royal Palm Beach High. It is reaching to be bigger and better. However if you know me logistics are not my gift, so I am having to release control of many things and put them into the hands of my very capable volunteers. I am soo excited for how they have stepped up and the plans we have. We will also be changing location which will be soo awesome. My church, First Baptist Church of Royal Palm has opened up their activity center for Campus Life to use! Our kick-off will be Feb. 2, so i'm trying to pull everything together that we will need before then.
As cool as a big kick-off is it doesn't really mean anything without students, so my next big problem is promotion for the kick-off. I am praying for a way to advertise on campus. I need to take action though. I don't know why this is so difficult for me? Its like one step is ok, but when i look at the many steps that need to take place i get so easily overwhelmed and no action is taken at all. Life is hard when I put it into steps, I think I need something else to call steps....maybe I can change the name to gummy bears or something that seems easier and happier???

Holiday Happenings

On Dec. 18 I, with the help of my brother and sister in law purchased a ticket for me to come home to surprise my mom for Christmas. I have always wanted to come home and surprise my mom but it has never worked out because i get too excited. But this time the whole plan worked out so last minute that I didn't really have time to let my mom know what was going on. The trip was great! I got to spend lots of time with my brother and his wife, which i haven't ever really gotten to do and i got to see mom!
During my trip i also was able to catch up with the Klein family! I love them all soo much and miss them. It was great to get to sit down face to face with them to let them know how much they have encouraged me and taught me about ministry. Christmas Eve was a lot of fun, I spent the day shopping with my sister in law, Kim and ended the day with my extended family! I love my family and miss them soo much. But all of this was not the end of my travels.
I left early on Christmas morning to catch a flight back to West Palm. I arrived with just enough time to do some laundry and get some sleep. Friday Dec. 26th I headed to Gatlinburg, TN. We took 10 students, 2 volunteers, and 4 YFC staff on this Campus Life conference in the Smokey Mountains. We took two days to get there, and stayed for 3.
It was such an great trip. The students that we took along with us were great and with it being our first year going on this trip everything went relatively smoothe. There was a lot of mini-golfing to do, and lazer tag too on the first day. On the second day half of the group stayed and skiied on the mountain in Ober Gatlinburg while the other half of us headed into Pigeon Forge,(home of Dollywood for those who didnt' know). The purpose of going into Pigeon Forge however was not to go to Dollywood but to try some Indoor Skydiving! It was soo cool! I will try and get some photos up of this event. The conference went really well too, of our 10 students 3 made decisions to follow Christ!
We headed out early in the morning on the 30th and returned safely into Palm Beach county around 9pm. I'm am finally out and about having conquered a cold and sleep deprivation. This holiday season has been like no other. I got to see and spend time with my family whom I love and miss dearly, and I got to experience God moving in the lives of teenagers.