And February Comes to an End!

Tonight was a good night! We had small numbers tonight, only about twenty people, but we had a TON of energy! The boys were pretty much maniacs! We peeled boys off of boys in our mixer, we peeled bananas with our feet, we ate them with our feet! It was a wild night! Tonight I talked about the Kingdom of God. I talked about what the Kingdom of God is, and talked about the year of Jubilee, and from there claimed that if we spend some time getting to know Jesus we will see traces of the Kingdom of God begin popping up in our lives. I encouraged students to think seriously about where they are with Jesus and to talk to some of our leaders about it. I said it may be the time for some of us to start to talk our relationship with Jesus to the next level and that we shouldn't do that alone. Anyway, tonight is a very busy night for me and I need to get going! So this is a bit shorter than it ought to be. Special thanks to Terry and Teresa Hancock for a wonderful dinner! And always to the Butlers for hosting our ragtag bunch! You are all a blessing! It's an honor to be a part of this ministry! -Mat

Young Life Does Valentines

Well, to be honest, I was nervous about tonight's attendance. All day I had been receiving texts from students saying that they were sick and wouldn't be at Young Life, or that they were going to be out with a significant other for Valentines Day. And at 7:28, when there were literally four (yeah, 4) high school students in the room I thought my fears had been realized. BUT at 7:30, people swarmed in the door, 10, 15, 20, 25, 28. 28 students in about 5 minutes! Boy, was I relieved! It was a great night. Our energy was a bit low through the songs, but the games went well. The talk seemed fine, I had been excited about sharing it. I spoke on 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter. It seemed appropriate considering the date, and so I gave the talk about God's love and God being love. And it struck a chord. A deep chord. The questions tonight were profound. Question after question about pain, about undeserved love, about lack of trust, fear, regret, hurt, abuse. Tonights questions were deeper and more thoughtful than any we have had in quite some time. I sit here now, reflecting on the time, amazed at the holiness of the moment. Truly incredible to see the spirit stir in the hearts of high schoolers. Thank you all for helping the other leaders and myself to do this ministry. Please don't ever feel that we take this calling lightly. It is a great honor and we take it as seriously as it deserves! 

Special thanks to Ken and Joy Rawlings for hosting us for a delicious dinner tonight! Thanks once again to the Butlers for opening their home to us! Thank you to all the adult support that surrounds this ministry! And students, If any of you are reading this, thank you for your profoundly meaning and thoughtful questions. -Mat

We're Back!!

Whelp, after a loooong hiatus (December 13th until February 7th!!) we are FINALLY back! Goodness gracious we missed all those wonderful high school students crammed in the Butler's basement! We had a lot of fun tonight, we sang some songs, played some games, laughed a bunch, and spent some time talking about Jesus. Tonight we talked about about a story from The Book of Mark, chapter 8 where Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about him, and who they think he is. We talked about the fact that all of us have opinions about who Jesus is and from there I asked if we would, as a group, try to answer that question this semester. I showed the video below to get the ball rolling. It's by Michael Gungor Band, and it's called "White Man" and it's incredible! Hope you like it! Also, special thanks to the Schaefer's for having us over for a wonderful dinner, to the Butler's for hosting us once again for Young Life, and to Limeberry for hosting all us crazies afterwards! If you are reading this and want to get involved please feel free to get in touch with me! You can host dinners, help fund this ministry, be a leader, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Ps. I have a terrible cold at the moment and may not be making sense in this post. If that is the case I offer my deepest apologies. Thank you all for the blessings that you are! -Mat