Is April Already Over?!

Tonight was a good night! We are definitely experiencing the lower numbers of late Spring, as Spring sports kick into high gear, but we are still seeing over 25+ high schoolers descend on the Butler's basement every Monday evening and tonight was no exception! We played a game where students rubber band alka seltzer to their heads and have squirt guns and the goal is to dissolve the opponents alka seltzer before they dissolve yours! It's a pretty enjoyable thing to watch and a slightly less enjoyable thing to partake in! We sang some great songs and had a bunch of fun laughing together! We only have 5 spots left for camp! 1 girls spot and 4 boys spots! So, if you're a parent reading this and your student isn't signed up, get on them! Tonight we shared about the Cross, what it meant, and what Jesus did on it. I shared that because of the cross we can all be welcomed back into the arms of God, and can enter into right relationship with him. Everyone seemed to track well with the talk and I really believe God did some great things! Special thanks to Mark and Rebecca Butler, for not only hosting Young Life tonight, but also for hosting the leaders for dinner! Thank you everyone for all the support, for the prayer, and for the funds when we need it! You make this possible! -Mat

Oh the Egg Game...

Well tonight was a big night! We played some new songs, Caitlin helped sing (which DEFINITELY upped our sound quality) we used an auto-tuner for our voices (if you don't know what that is and really want to know, here's a link to an article about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotune ) And we played one of the great games in all of Young Life, The Egg-in-a-Tube Game. The game is explained well in the video, so I won't waste your time here! We had just about 30 students tonight and the energy was great! It all went so smooth tonight that even though we finished right around the same time we always do everyone felt it went fast. I think we're finally hitting our stride!
Tonight I talked about the consequences of sin and read the story of the Prodigal Son from the son's perspective. I claimed that we all have put ourselves in this place of "working in the pig fields wishing we could eat pig food" and that Jesus plays a big role in why that's not necessarily the case. I told everyone that this next week we will finish that story by telling it from the father's perspective. It was a fun night. Unfortunately we had some technical problems with the camera so we only filmed that last few minutes of Young Life tonight. So that's why our video is so short this week!
Special thanks once again to the Butler's for letting us use there house, and a special things to Ryan and Holly Collier for hosting us with a delicious taco soup dinner! And to all of you faithful readers and those praying for us, thank you so much for your support! If you are interested in getting involved in anyway don't hesitate to email or call me! Thanks thanks thanks!! -Mat

Welcome to the Butler's!

Well, Tonight was our first night at Mark and Rebecca Butler's house! We grew to big for the Marshall's and boy did we find a great place to continue growing! We were a little smaller tonight (26 high school students) but I think we can chalk that up to being somewhere new and it just a busier than average night for some students. But all in all, we had high energy and fun games. I think everyone we talked to enjoyed Young Life tonight and it was at a size where our leaders were able to have valuable conversations with every student. Tonight I shared about our need, the fact that we are broken and we know it. I began the conversation that will be continued over the coming weeks. We are to the place in the semester where the talks ramp up in weightiness and we lay the ground work for thoughtful conversations to follow. On a SUPER positive note, Caitlin Marshall joined the Sprague Young Life Leadership team! We're so happy to have her with us! It is always nice to welcome more leaders into the family. It equips us to reach more students and change more lives! If you're interested in leading feel free to let us know! Any age is welcome (beyond high school of course!) Special thanks to Mike and Joy Fargo for hosting our team for dinner! Sorry this post is so short! I have a VERY early morning tomorrow (at least for me! 5am!) and need to be getting to bed soon on account of it's just about midnight! Thank you all for all of the support and prayers! None of this could be possible without you!

Last Week at the Marshall's

Well I'm sure you guessed by the title, we are no longer going to be at the Marshall's for Young Life.... because we have grown too big!!!!! We had 45 high schoolers last night, and let me tell you, that room was FULL! After having just over 30 students last week 45 blew me away! It was much more full than I thought we could comfortably fit and I was right!! Such a joy to see that many young people crammed in a room to sing songs and hear about Jesus! We played two games involving clothespins, one in which every starts with three clothespins pinned to their sleeve and has two minutes to see if they can get all of theirs off and on to someone else's shirt. They second game we had two girls and two boys, the girls objective was to see how many clothespins on the boys faces as possible. The winner had 18 clothespins! Last night I talked about blind Bartimaeus on the road to Jericho crying out to God. I posed the question, "who do you cry out too?" I feel like students really responded well to this message and asked some equally good questions. It was such a good night and such a privilege to be a part of. I want to, once again, thank the Marshall's for 8 weeks of hospitality in opening their doors for 20-45 high school guys and gals to invade their home! Thanks to the Chins for hosting us for a delicious spaghetti dinner last night! And thanks for Mark and Rebecca Butler for agreeing to host Sprague Young Life in this next phase of our ministry growth! It's going to be a good end of the year with so much to talk about and so much fun to be had!! Thank you all for your prayers, it's only because of you that 45 high schoolers would show up to sing songs and play games on a Monday night! Thank You!