Fall Weekend pt. 2

When you see Rockbridge for the first time, it blows your mind. I remember thinking of what Young Life camp was going to be when I went for the first time in high school, and it was nothing like what I pictured. Rockbridge is a camp specifically designed for high school kids. It takes everything into consideration and defines excellence. It should be called a Young Life resort. We got there and our kids spilled out of the bus and got settled in their rooms before Ben and I took the guys and wandered around camp.

The next 36 hours are a blur. I wish I could detail for you everything that went on. As I look back a few weeks, and many big events later, there are a few big things that stick out; the first is club. Many of the kids we took had no idea what club was even about. They had never seen a club and when they asked us what Young Life was all about we told them to wait and see. They were blown away. We were lucky enough to be a part of one of the biggest Fall Weekends Rockbridge had ever hosted. Every bit of the club room was packed out. The look on their faces to see 700 other kids go nuts and sing Taylor Swift songs or cheer for games or laugh at program characters was priceless. By the end of our first club we had the privilege to hear for Cliff Wright.

Cliff is an area director in Fredericksburg. I can't guarantee I'm spelling that right. Cliff is a very, very passionate person when it comes to talking about Jesus. You can tell he is walking with Christ in a way that a lot of people aren't. It draws you in and makes you want to know what is different about him. A lot of our guys loved him right off the bat. One turned to me and said "I want to be that when I grow up". I'm not sure if any of them truly realized why Cliff was different but I hope that they will.

We got to have cabin time both nights we were there, where the goal is to just kick back and get real with the guys. It is where a lot of conversation happens and high school guys who rarely talk about real stuff open up. For us that meant getting to known one another. Coming in Ben and I didn't know all of the guys, and didn't know hardly any of them on a deep level. We got to talk about life, Jesus, Cliff's talk, etc. What I hoped would go at least 20 minutes ended up going over an hour and a half. By the time we looked at the clock again it was 2 a.m.

By the end of the weekend nobody wanted to leave. We had a quick area meeting sharing the vision for what club could be coming back to Franklin which a lot of kids were stoked about. The bus on the way home was a whole different story. We were all comfortable with one another talking like old friends. We talked about going back to camp in the summer and what club could look like. We arrived home tired but satisfied. It had been a good, good weekend.

As I look back on it there were a lot of victories for us. We got to see the spiritual landscape of kids in Franklin County. Most all of them have been exposed to the Gospel to some degree, most of them even go to church. However, they long for more. They understand that the way Cliff spoke about Jesus was different than they saw him, it was intimate, real, deep. They want that. It will be incredible for us to find out how to bridge that gap from wanting to living. As we move forward, we are more excited than ever.

The last four blogs have been a bit off the norm! For that I'm sorry, and I'm also sorry they're a bit late. Its been a wild time for us and for myself personally. As the new year comes and I have more time again to be consistent I hope to update every Tuesday on what is going on and how you guys can be praying for. I thank you for supporting us in prayer, we desperately need it. We love you so much!

More updates soon.

Fall Weekend pt. 1

I don't even know where to begin. Fall Weekend was wild, exhausting, fun, intense and left us with a ton of vision and momentum about our next steps with Young Life in Franklin County. When all was said and done we ended up with a total of 28 people from FranCo signed up for Rockbridge. This was my first Fall Weekend taking kids to camp so I was hoping that all my ducks were in a row. The biggest question mark that came together at the last second was the bus.

Originally we didn't think that we would need a bus. It was our first year taking kids, and a few places that we asked were out of our price range. I figured with 4 leaders we could take a couple cars of kids with us driving. That was before we had twenty kids sign up in two days. We then realized we needed to find a bus. Luckily at the 11th hour we found a bus, our own driver for the bus and were approved with the insurance the day of Fall Weekend. The last step was to get the bus to the YMCA parking lot where we were to meet kids at 6:30. And then the bus wouldn't start.

We spent a half an hour trying to figure out what the heck to do. The bus was in one parking lot, the kids were in another and it was freezing outside. As the minutes ticked on half of our leaders and committee were at the bus with our driver trying to figure out what was wrong while the other half hung out with kids and tried to reassure parents who probably wondered if we knew what we were doing. Just as we decided to pack into cars with our leaders and committee driving, the problem was found. In a school bus all of the emergency exits must be perfectly locked AND the driver seatbelt must be on. We now know this.

Finally, 45 minutes late, the bus rolled around the corner to cheers from kids and parents alike. Undeterred we clambered on the bus, made a quick headcount and checked for health forms, and started our journey to the greatest place on Earth; Rockbridge.

Word of mouth spread pretty quick in Franklin so many kids that we didn't know previously made the trip. Kerry and Becca had never met 95% of the girls on the bus while I only knew about half of the guys. Ben was taking a late car down with our three varsity basketball players, a cheerleader and her good friend Jill. The bus ride became a rallying point. We made Franklin County chants, did our best to get on the phone line with Delilah, our favorite radio show host, and ate countless cookies provided by our committee and parents.

My favorite part was that most of the kids had no idea what Young Life even was. They were there simply on somebodies word that it was going to be the best weekend of there life. A certain guy was introduced to me by Alan Janney, a teacher at FCHS, who said he should go. He walked into the room, was introduced to me, Mr. Janney told him he should go to the weekend and he looked at me and said, "You think I should go?"Having just met him I said "I guarantee it'll be the best weekend of your life." He turned his form in the very next day. On the way up the kids asked a million questions just wanting to know what it would look like so we continued to be cryptic not wanting to ruin any surprises.

Finally we rolled into the gates of Rockbridge and pulled up to the entrance tent as the kids marveled through the windows of the place we had just arrived at. We had made it.

To be continued . . . Sorry, but I'm in the yearbook classroom and I have to leave! But I'll try to finish this story soon!

The Engagement Part II

I picked her up around 1:30 and was calmer than I expected to be. We headed out to get something to eat and I suggested Panera, a place I knew she loved and a place I knew would by light on my nervous stomach. I insisted we go to the Christiansburg Panera, rather than the one much closer in Blacksburg, saying that it was better, but really I just wanted to buy some time. Usually I'm a very quick eater but I took my time while intermittently checking my phone making sure that all parties were on the same page. Luckily Becca thought that I was checking the score of the Tech game. Finally she noted that we had been at Panera forever, so I began our tour of Christiansburg.

I really had no idea where to take her. Most of the places I could think of we had already been. So I told her since we'd been to those places at night I wanted to show them to her in the day time. Seriously, I was stretching for everything. We went to the house I grew up in, a bridge my dad used to take me, the new house my brother and his wife bought, and my brother's sister-in-law's house. I was desperate. I told Brendan we would be there at 4, so finally at 3:35 we headed back for Blacksburg.

When Becca and I first started hanging out we had a few run-ins with the police. It started on our first date when I got pulled over for my tags being expired. It was then that Becca told me how much she HATED being pulled over. I've never known someone who hated run-ins with the cops so much. The next two times we hung out after our first date we also got pulled over; three times in the first week of us hanging out. I finally got my tags changed knowing that if I got pulled over again with her in the car she would probably never drive with me again.

This is important because of what happened on the ride back. As previously stated it was the day of the Tech vs. UVA football game, a game that VT traditionally wins regardless of how terrible a season they are having. Becca said at one point that if UVA won it would be the worst day ever. While I knew she was joking, I desperately wanted Tech to win. As the Hokies drove down with the final seconds ticking away and the score tied up they took a time out to set up the field goal with four seconds left as we listened on the radio. It was then I noticed the police car behind me with it's lights on. The problem? My tags were expired. I love when things come full circle.

So as the officer wrote me a ticket we listened to the Hokies kick the game winning field goal before finishing things with the cop. We then FINALLY made our final push towards the Chapel. Now, Becca didn't know that was where we were going. But I knew if I hinted enough about me playing piano for her she would ask me too, and in that case there was only one place I could take her with a piano; the Chapel. So I hinted, she asked, and away we went. We parked in an illegal spot but as we walked into the Chapel I dropped the keys outside the door so our friend Ben could move it without her noticing. Together we walked in.

The trick for me was to set up the Chapel in a way that it was decorated, but not obvious. I told her they must have put up their Christmas decorations. We walked over to the piano and I told her that we'd never sang a song together and I wanted to sing. I played the song Give Me Jesus while we sang which was a really cool experience. I kept my eye on Brendan who was well hidden, but stuck out enough if you were looking for him. I finished the song and became instantly aware I had no idea how I was going to transition to the little speech I had planned, so I just dove into it.

As is my custom I started pacing as I told her what I'd been learning about marriage. She hadn't noticed that my Bible was sitting on the alter and so I went over and grabbed it as she followed me over.

Becca and I started dating on April 29th, 2011 and one day I got bored and looked up all the 4:29s in the Bible. I came across Deuteronomy 4:29 which is "From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul." That became the basis of our relationship for me and we often referred to it. The purpose of anything is to draw us closer to the Lord; especially a romantic relationship. God didn't make marriage so that we could just enjoy another person, but so that we could better understand who He is. It's a wild concept that I've been learning about for the past year and a half now.

In asking Becca to marry me I was asking her to chase after the Lord with me for the rest of our lives together. My Bible has fallen apart and even is in two pieces now right where Deuteronomy 4:29 is (due to the fact that I kept all the letters Becca sent me there) and so that is where I put the ring. As I talked to her I grabbed my Bible and asked her what Deuteronomy 4:29 said. As she started to say it she looked around and caught sight of Brendan.

That was the moment she realized what was going on. I knew she was suspicious at different parts of the day but once she saw him every doubt was erased. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. Her eyes started tearing up at she looked back and me and her hands started to shake. I grabbed them as I pulled the ring our of my Bible and dropped down to one knee. I honestly can't even remember the words that I used at the point but the gist was that I wanted to spend the rest of my life running after Jesus together.

There should be a class for things that guys don't know about engagements. One of those things I didn't know was which hand to put the ring on. After reaching for the wrong one she gently placed the right one in my hands and I slipped on the ring that had been burning a whole in my pocked for the month prior on to her finger. Then that was it! We were engaged. She hugged me and didn't let go for what felt like forever. Brendan took a few pictures more and then snuck our without a word leaving us to sit by the alter and take in everything that had happened. I finally got to tell her all the things I'd been hiding from her over the past few months trying to make the engagement a surprise.

After we had time to talk we called our families to meet us there and got to spend some time before heading to our engagement party. A crazy amount of our friends showed up and we got to spend the night celebrating the big, big things that Jesus lets us enjoy. And now I get to tell the world that we are happily engaged! I've wanted to do that for a long, long time. I told my mom a week after we started dating that she was the one I was going to marry. I spent the next year and half convincing her of that!

I want to thank everyone who made the day ridiculously special. Our families for supporting us, Brendan for taking pictures, Katie Meehan for planning the party and Hypes for making some ridiculously delicious food and all our friends that were able to make it.

I hope that as you read this that you walk away with a clearer picture of who the Lord is and what His role is in relationships I don't post this blog so that every girl who reads it will cry and think how sweet everything is. I post it because before Becca I had no idea what a Christ-centered relationship should look like and maybe this gives you a better picture. And now we get to start our ministry together in Franklin County soon! Big, big things.

The Engagement Part I

To me this blog is more exciting that any I've done so far. The ministry implications that this event will have is incredible. Bringing my fiance Becca here to Franklin is going to drastically impact the high school in an eternal way. The story that follows is my best recollection of the wild, wild day that Saturday was.

For months and months I have thought about how I wanted to propose to Becca. We had been dating for a year and a half and after the first week of dating I told my mother that I wanted to marry her. The rest of that time I've spent trying to convince her that she wanted to marry me. As I've mentioned before, we asked Becca to come and lead on our Fall Weekend with us because we don't have any female leaders. However, I wanted her to go into the weekend knowing that she would be back in these girls lives, and not just there for the weekend. So I knew that I wanted to ask her before Nov. 30th.

In all honesty, I wanted to ask her much sooner. I graduated from Tech in May but she had another year of school left in Blacksburg. While selfishly I wanted to rush it I knew the Lord had intent in allowing us to be in different places for a year growing in different ways. While big things are happening here in Franklin, she is doing big, big things in Blacksburg. But as I prayed, waited and planned I saw that November 24th would be the perfect day. In the weeks leading up to it I asked her father, got the ring and planned out the whole day. The day finally came for me to head home for Thanksgiving and I did so with a ring in my pocket anxiously anticipating Saturday.

Now, the plan was that her family would come into town for the VT vs. UVA game. I knew I wanted to do it on a day we could have her family come in for and the game was the perfect excuse. It was also a great excuse for a lot of our friends to come into town without raising too much suspicion. When I talked to her our plan was to go to the game, spend some time with each other after the game, and then go out to dinner that night with our families as they met for the first time. I had other plans.

On Saturday morning I woke up after a good night's rest. I hadn't expected to get much sleep but it was a gift to get a good amount. I showered and headed over to her house to meet her parents for some breakfast before the tailgate. We had a few friends come over and stop by, and at one point I looked around and realized that everyone there knew that Becca was getting proposed to that day except for her. We had told a group of our friends we wanted to be at a party afterwards and word spread pretty quickly. Luckily they kept it away from her.

Soon enough she and her family left for the game while I stayed behind to "watch it with some other friends" because I "couldn't find a ticket". As they left my buddy Brendan and I headed right away to the Chapel where the proposal was to go down.

Here is where I need to take a break and explain some more things. The Chapel on Virginia Tech's campus is very dear to me. I have spent countless hours there over the last two years simply spending time with the Lord. I play a bit of piano and there is a gorgeous Steinway that is always unlocked at night. When I was a Freshman Fellowship leader at Virginia Tech I often went to the Chapel with guys and talked about life and Jesus late into the night. When Becca and I first met I had many conversations with friends and with Jesus there about her. It's a place to me that symbolizes my walk with Christ. It is the closest thing to a holy place that I know. Often Becca wanted me to take her there and play her piano but I never wanted to. To take her there meant taking her into the inmost part of who I am and who I am in Christ which is terrifying. I wasn't ready to do that until I was certain I wanted to marry her. That's why instead of trying to do something extravagant, I wanted to take her there.

So Brendan and I spent a while setting things up. I wanted him to be able to take picture to we moved some things around so he could hide between a pillar and fake tree with a good angle of where I would propose. We set up with the assumption that Becca would text me after the game, around 3 or so, and then I would pick her up and grab a bite to eat before taking her to the chapel for the big event. To my surprise I got a text at 1:18 that simply read "heading home". It was a cold day in Blacksburg so she and a few friends decided to head out a little early. Instead of an hour of time to kill it turned into two and a half. So Brendan and I prayed and it was time to head out. Nervous but ready as ever.

The Banquet

The Calm Before the Storm.

Week after week I've gotten to write about the big things the Lord is doing. It seems to me that week after week the Lord outdoes himself. Last week was no exception. After hours and hours of planning, meeting, and organizing our banquet it was finally the night we had all been waiting for.

The picture to the right is the Law Cafeteria in Franklin County High School. The school is so large it has two cafeterias and six different lunches. For our banquet we rented this was the space we wanted for the evening for a number of reasons. First of all the theme we decided on "Cheering For Kids". People from Franklin County already love FCHS and its kids. That was nothing we had to sell them on. Our theme allowed us to invite people to wear their Red and White, the schools colors, which also gave us a more laid-back feeling. It is easy to blend in with all the other banquets people attend throughout the year, so we wanted to stand out a bit. We wanted to have a banquet that truly exemplified what Young Life is about. When you walk into one of our high school clubs there isn't a formal, stuffy feel to the room but rather a vibrant, inviting atmosphere. We didn't want people wearing their Sunday best.

Things Starting to Take Shape.

Secondly it was a place everyone in the county knew. A lot of people that go to FCHS end up staying or coming back to the area at some point. The school has been around since 1950 so having it there brought along some nostalgia for a few of our attendees.
Lastly as we describe to people what Young Life is for the first time, we often describe how we go to where kids are at. What better way to exemplify that than to have our banquet where, earlier in the day, hundreds upon hundreds of kids have been. It was the perfect place.

Often in an area's first year the banquet can be rather small. As you've heard me talk about in many previous blogs getting things started isn't easy. However, when you have a committee that is sold out to the cause it certainly greases the wheels. We were incredibly encouraged by our Table Host meeting and hoped that we could get close to the goal we had set for ourselves: 200 people. Going in we knew that it was a lofty goal, but certainly one that was worth pursuing.

Table #1 After Being Decorated!

As the day drew nearer we began to get a clearer number of just how many people we would have, and the number climbed up from 170 to just under 200. While we were unsure of what the final number would be, or how many people would actually show up, we kept praying that the Lord would bring who he wanted. Did he ever.

At 3:30 most of our committee members showed up along with a few good friends of mine from VT. These guys have been wanting to visit all year and offered their help as soon as they knew we were having our banquet. When you're setting up 25 tables with full decorations and 200 chairs its good to have some hands on deck. As 6:30 drew closer things started to come together. It was awesome to see the way in which different Young Life areas contributed to our cause. The New River Valley sent guys to help, a projector and speakers. We had red and white table clothes courtesy of Rockbridge. We had Andy Fetzer and four of his Campaigners come with one of them giving their testimony during the banquet. It was a kingdom project.

Our Full 200 As the Banquet Began.

Around 6:15 people started to come in droves. I couldn't keep up with everyone that was signing in and getting their name tags but I got to meet a few people here and there. Seats started filling up and butterflies started kicking in. Pretty soon the room was full and buzzing. The feeling in the air was just fun. There is no other way I can think to describe it. A lot of people knew each other and the conversations were flowing. Steve Schmitt and I got on the microphones and welcomed everybody. We told them instead of just releasing them table by table in a uniform way we wanted to have fun with them. The theme of the banquet was "Cheering for Kids" after all and we wanted them to earn their spot in line. So, taking a page out of Wytheville's book, we told each table that they had to distinguish themselves to be dismissed for food. Immediately a table in the corner burst into action coming out with some sort of chant while standing on their chairs. Once that was the standard it progressed from there.

Soon everyone was well fed from the plentiful buffet and we were ready to get into the heart of the program. I had the unenviable task of explaining to a room of 200 adults what in the world Young Life was. I got up and spelled out the 5 C's of Young Life; Committee, Contact Work, Club, Campaigners and Camp. I explained to them who we were and why we were there. I tried to put words to what they had started to see happening in and around the school. To further illustrate I showed them this video by Brendan O'Connor. You need to watch that video.

A Few of Us after the Banquet!

After a ridiculous skit that ended with a Brendan, myself and four attendees forming a human pyramid we got to hear from Ryan Lauria. Ryan is a Young Life kid at Hidden Valley high school. He had welcomed us when we attended club there and he himself was doing huge things for Jesus in his school, using Young Life as a vehicle to bring his friends to Christ. We could have stood up there and talked about Young Life till our faces turned blue, but there is something different about watching a kid who is walking with Jesus in high school talk about how it has helped him to pursue his friends.

To end the evening we brought in our heavy hitter; Steve Schmitt. Now, I've gushed enough about how awesome Schmitty is in previous blogs so I'll spare you the rant. Suffice it to say he communicated to the adults in the room in a way that allowed them to truly understand what kind of need there is in a high school and what we are trying to do about it. He ended with an invitation to contribute in many different ways and we ended the night with a quick prayer.

We walked away from the night confident. We were just shy of our goal for the night, financially, knowing that many people left with the intent of discussing it before giving. We are hoping that in the coming week or two we will be fully funded as an area, for this year at least. From connections we made the banquet we have many more families looking to help in any way that they can. We have people interested in joining our committee, a few possible places to hold club and campaigners, a possible office space and a lead on a bus for Fall Weekend.

In the end, the victory for us was a room full of people who got to see where the Lord is moving. Our hope and prayer is that they were ministered to in a way that allowed encouraged them toward knowing Jesus. That is what counts. So again we stand excited, encouraged and ready for what the big guy has next. Which just happens to be Fall Weekend 2012.

Controlled Chaos



Epic. FCHS's first ever Fall Weekend Sign-Up. His Last Name? Rayburn.

The way a lot of people describe a Young Life club is 'controlled chaos'. For me the month of November looks like a whole lot of controlled chaos. It all culminates on the last day of the month where we take kids to our first official Fall Weekend at Rockbridge. A few weeks ago I posted a picture with the flyer on the blog. We've been handing out that flyer ever since. A lot of kids have been interested, but we were still waiting for the first kid to turn in their money and form; that is until last night. Pictured right is our friend writing his check to secure his spot on our Fall Weekend trip. This is no small happening. As you can see Brad is writing his check on the hood of his car in the school's parking lot. What the picture doesn't tell you is that this is after we had been standing outside in freezing weather for the last half an hour talking at 11:15 at night. But to give this story a bit more context, let me backup and explain.

One of the privileges I have as being a Young Life staff person is that I get to help out other areas and have other areas help me out. That sense of serving one another expresses itself in many ways, but two of the most obvious come in Fall Weekend's and Banquets. While Young Life camps are fully staffed with incredible year-round personnel, when there is a Fall Weekend or summer camp Staff people from different areas come to serve in different ways. One of those ways is being the program for the weekend. The program acts as the directors of the weekend; planning the schedule, setting up everything for club, being the run-on characters, assembling the music team, the list goes on. As you can imagine this is a pretty hefty task.
This fall I've been asked to be on a program team for a fall weekend in Lake Champion with two of my best friends, Craig Sweeney and Alex Hopkins, on staff in Fredericksburg and Charlottesville respectively. Planning this has been a huge task, and a lot of fun. Its also been stressful as the weekend (Nov. 9-11) draws closer and we prepare our attempt to control chaos. Later, when we go to Rockbridge, we'll have a team serving us in the same way.


Brendan and I Ready for the Wytheville Banquet.

Banquets are another huge event in every area.
Similarly, an area will usually bring in staff people from another area to speaks and run programs for their banquet. For our own banquet we are bringing in people from other areas for just those purposes. I was asked to form a program team for the Young Life banquet at Wytheville. To join me I asked Brendan O'Connor. Brendan and I led together when I was at Tech and he is one of my best friends in the world. You can see us pictured right, before we went out trying to make people laugh at the banquet. We also brought along Ben Gallagher, a WyldLife leader and good friend of ours to help us out.
With all of this going on its been a whole lot of fun trying to juggle program for a banquet, program for a Fall Weekend, and all of the wonderful things that are going on here in Franklin County, including our own banquet and Fall Weekend! In the midst of this Ben and I had talked to a few kids about going to Hidden Valley's club again on Monday night and there was a lot of interest. Unfortunately for us it turned out that it was on the same night I had to be in Wytheville doing program. Ben decided he would take the solo trip with neither of us really knowing how many kids would come. So I headed to Blacksburg to pick up Brendan and Ben Gallagher and made the trip to Wytheville in nervous anticipation of making a fool of myself in front of 100 or so people. Ben Brodin started making calls to see who wanted to venture to Hidden Valley's club.


A Completely Unrelated Picture of the Dodgeball Champions


The banquet ran great. We got more laughs than we expected and the whole thing ran smoothly. Towards the end Steve Schmitt stood up and gave them a picture of what Young Life is and what it would mean to have it in Wytheville. It is a new area with three high schools and three middle schools in the area. Looking forward, we are hoping that enough money will be raised that they can have their own staff person. Who knows, maybe soon we'll see "Adventures in Wytheville" coming around from a new staff person. In the end we were thanked over and over for coming, and left feeling like big things were going to happen in Wytheville. As I drove back, finally allowing myself to breathe after being so nervous, I gave Ben Brodin a call to see who had ended up going with him. I couldn't here a word he said when he answered, but I could tell he was somewhere with a lot of people. After club, its a tradition to go to a fast food place and eat, or just to hangout. In Roanoke all three clubs in the area come together for Bojangles afterwards and I guessed that he was there. Once I could hear him he told me that seven kids went with him, only one of which went with us last time. For those of you who aren't math majors, that means six new kids got to hear what Fetz had to say about who God was. Six kids got to catch a vision for what Young Life could be at FCHS. Six kids got to catch a glimpse of what Fall Weekend would be like. As I drove back I realized that we would be getting back around the same time, so I headed to the high school hoping I'd get a chance to catch them as they pulled in.



Another Unrelated Picture of FCHS's Live Morning Show

 After sitting in my car for 5 or so minutes Ben's car pulled into the parking lot an unloaded half of the gang; the other half had already gone home. We hung out outside of Ben's car in the school parking lot and talked for at least 30 minutes. The guys were stoked about club and we got on the subject of Fall Weekend. One of them was so hyped about it he went to his car, grabbed his checkbook, and secured the first FCHS spot ever. It was awesome. The Lord only added to the moment when I found out his last name was Rayburn, sharing it with Jim Rayburn who started Young Life. Suffice it to say, it was a pretty incredible moment. There are times in life when you just can't stop smiling because you are so excited about what is going on. This is one of those times for me. While I am in the midst of all of this chaos, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can only hope that our first sign up will get the ball rolling in a big way. That it would snowball into more and more sign-ups this week and we move closer and closer to November 30th.

I know this blog had been long, but I can't get over how much has happened. As I talk about controlled chaos I'm reminded again and again the the Lord is in control as the chaos of banquets, Fall Weekends and sign-ups seem insurmountable. But the more chaotic my life gets, the more I'm able to realize who exactly is in control and simply enjoy the ride. I can tell that is going to be the story of my November.

Showing Up

Our Powderpuff Cheerleading Squad During the Game

There are a lot of Young Life phrases out there. We 'meet kids where they are at', we 'love them where they're at', we 'go after the farthest out kid' all while having 'club' and 'campaigners'.  For those out of the Young Life circles those phrases can get confusing. When explained though, they capture the essence of Young Life. In starting a new area one of the biggest challenges comes in communicating just exactly what Young Life is; to parents, faculty and especially to kids. While I've had many trials and errors explaining certain intricacies of Young Life one is always very simple; the concept of showing up. (There are also a lot of 'Christian girl phrases' out there; hilarious)

When you look at Jesus' ministry he was always showing up in people's lives. There were many instances people came to him, or that he would be in a public place preaching, but his ministry was also characterized by going to where people were. For instance, when we look at His calling of the disciples they weren't in a church service, but rather at their jobs in many cases. There are countless other examples, the woman at the well, the man by the pool and even our dear friend Zacchaeus. Jesus just happened to be walking down Zacchaeus street when he calls him down from the tree and goes to his house to eat with him. In following Jesus example we cannot afford to miss his missionary tendencies of meeting people where they were at.

Obama 'Showing Up' at the Volleyball Game

While we often think of being a missionary in terms of going to a foreign place for God, we can't lost the fact that we are all called to be missionaries. When I read the New Testament it seems like being a disciple and being a missionary were one in the same.  For me my 'mission field' is FCHS. So to follow Jesus' example there I have to show up in kids lives. My heart is to become ingrained in the very fabric of the school and there is no better way to do that than to invest time there. That is why you'll see YL leaders at football games, volleyball games, powderpuff games, plays, band practices, lunches, after school, before school, tutoring, coaching, mentoring, the list goes on forever. It can take years to become a part of the school where kids truly know you and start to recognize you. It's a matter of continuing to persist even when it is uncomfortable or awkward. Do you think it's easy for the African missionary to become acclimated to their new surrounding? Do you think they immediately become acquired into the social fabric of the people they go to? If not, then why should I expect anything different.

I 'Showed Up' to Hang with the Band at Halftime
. . . Then Stole Their Drums.

The reason this is big for me this week is that I had two very different experiences at the school this past month. A couple week ago I went to a home volleyball game as was my custom. You can read about it in the last blog, but suffice it to say it was one of my first big introductions into the awkwardness that comes with the territory of going after people. So after making small talk with a few kids and feeling like it wasn't of much use I headed home.

About a week later, Ben Brodin and I  headed to the next home game (if you haven't read about Ben yet read the post with him in antlers; priceless). This was by far the most fruitful and exciting time with kids yet. Kids recognized me, remembered my name, and asked me about fall weekend. I met ten new kids that I hadn't known before, a lot of them from different areas of the school. It was awesome. It was a moment that made me realize how at the slightest inconvenience I'm ready to jump ship when in reality I'm working towards something bigger. It was a good night. After talking with the Video Production kids, president Obama (pictured about) and a few football players we left the game amped about what the Lord was doing.



A Local Church I Got the Chance to Speak At on Sunday.

One last story. A few weeks ago I was invited by Derek Layman to come and speak at his church, Cool Springs Christian Church, here in Franklin County. It was a great opportunity and one that really made me look at the biblical principals of going to where kids are at. I read John 5 in preparation and really dug into the story of Jesus and the man at the pool, a story Steve Schmitt has used many of times in explaining Young Life and one that I attempted to use as well. The thing that stuck out to me was the Jesus strikes up a conversation with this guy who has no idea who he is. The guy has no idea that Jesus can not only heal him, but give him life and life to the full. He is conversing with the person with the answers to every question he could ever have. That is insane. As I've come to understand it, Christ has sent us, the Church, in His stead. I am where I am to be Jesus with clothes on. He entrusted His message and His purpose to a group of disciples who have passed in down the line all the way to us. So when I walk into the school, or to that game, or whatever it may be I have to realize the gravity of the situation.

It is monumental. It is fantastic. It is the highest calling one could possibly imagine. So in the midst of my insecurity, laziness, pride and questioning I will continue to show up in kid's lives in the hope and promise that they will be able to hear the Gospel that has forever changed my life. I'll continue to show up in churches to spread the vision that the Lord has given me in doing Young Life. I'll continue to show up to meet parents, and faculty and school boards because that is what Jesus did and who Jesus was. My hope is that I can stop worrying about feeling insecure or incapable of doing what He's asked me to and just be obedient. It's not my doing anyway. Alright, I'm going to hop off my soap box now, but I hope you understand the vastness and importance of what you are being asked to do, regardless of where your mission field is. Let us not take this lightly or feel overwhelmed. I'm honored to be in the fight with you.



Progress, Patience, People and Preparation.

Talking Life with Brendan and Troy in My House

These P's are the themes to my time in FranCo right now. The first is progress. Progress is being made. In past weeks it has moved at a break-neck speed. Lately it has slowed down to what seems normal. That's a good thing. As we move forward in establishing ourselves within the community and within the school we are being recognized. That awkward "Who is that guy?" look is slowly fading off the faces of our high school friends and many more people are understanding what Young Life is. We are meeting kids left and right and building relationships. We are moving forward.

However for myself, this takes patience. I don't know when I got the idea that everything should be immediate. Biblically we are called to be workers of the harvest, a year long process of toiling through intense physical labor for the joy of the harvest which comes once a year. If I work at something for a day and there isn't a harvest I wonder what I did wrong. But I'm learning. I'm learning that building relationships with kids take time. I am slowly getting to know kids in yearbook. Slowly getting to know the kids that we took to club. Slowly becoming recognized in the school. The other night, for the first time, I wondered what the heck I was doing at a volleyball game. I had been there the whole time and only had a few brief conversations with a few kids. What was the point? I realized though that I had to rest on the truth that I was there in Christ's stead. I have no idea what He accomplished by my being there. Even if it seems like nothing, my call to obedience doesn't change. We aren't to be fair-weather followers. And I'm being a brat if I get whiny when a kid isn't my best friend and asking questions about Jesus after one day. Pump the breaks, Nagle, just sow seeds.

Troy and Brendan joined Me In Praying at the School

The third theme has been people. I am incredibly thankful for the people in my life. In the past few weeks I have been visited by a lot of the people who support myself in this venture of Young Life in Franklin County, be it through prayer, friendship or financial donation. The joy of sharing this incredible vision we've been given has been beautiful. To have people experience the beginning signs of fruit in something they are investing their hearts in is an awesome thing. While we have been received with open arms by those in Franklin County, we are backed with the prayers and support of those all around the state and even a few scattered throughout the world. My hope is that everyone supporting me would want to come visit, partially because I want to see my friends and family, but more importantly because I want to share this vision; a main reason also for doing this blog.

Our Incredible Fall Weekend Flyer, Cudos to B. O'C.

Preparation is the final theme. We've talked about preparation for the banquet, which continues to make progress, but the thing I am currently most excited for is our Fall Weekend. Every fall young life areas get to take kids to a Young Life camp for the entire weekend. Kids get the opportunity to disconnect from a world of noise and expectations and just be themselves. You'll see on the flyer that it says "The Best Weekend of Your Life Guaranteed." and it will be. It is an absolute blast. Camp is carefully and thoughtfully planned out from beginning to end to blow kids expectations away. The greatest part is that for the first time, a lot of kids going will get to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that makes sense to them for the first time. While last year a small group went from here through a church, this will be our first official Fall Weekend with Young Life. It will also be my first time leading on a weekend. Putting things together for the trip is no simple task, but the process is one that gets me more and more excited everyday. We are given 20 spots to take to Rockbridge this year, but I'm hoping to be able to take 30 or more kids. My vision often outpaces my situation, but I want to pray big. This has the opportunity to be a huge boost. It also is a chance for kids to make eternity-altering decisions. And nothing is worth laboring for more.

Relationships

My Buddies and I in Kansas for #carrindiewedding

One of the biggest reasons I love Young Life is that it is a relational ministry. The community that comes from it is one that continually seeks to understand what a community rooted in Christ should look like. If it weren't for the group of guys I got to run after Jesus with in college, my life would look a lot different. I certainly wouldn't have as much wisdom as I do. Relationships are important.

My girlfriend, Becca, is someone who continually pushes me to know and love Jesus more. There are countless things I have come to learn about Jesus just from hearing her talk about her life and from the way that she treats me. Relationships can allow us to realize truths in our walk with God that are only head knowledge until we truly experience them in another person. For me there are times where Becca shows me love or forgiveness in a way that makes me think "Oh, that's what Jesus meant", or "Oh, that's how Jesus would have acted". It is crazy to me that God works in that way, but it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. We were meant to be in community. Those are just two examples that I've been getting a lot from recently. Again, relationships are important.

I Took Becca to Her Dream Location: A Puppy Farm

When looking at Jesus' life it is a beautiful thing to see the vast multitude of people that he affected. The relationships that he created on Earth were ones that affected people for their entire lifetimes. He wasn't limited to his peers though, when you look at who he has significant interactions with you see people of different ages, different ethnicities, backgrounds, occupations, etc. Jesus was known in a community. Relationships are important. All of this translate to what has been going on in FC.

As previously stated many times, I have a fantastic committee. As a leader at Tech I didn't get to interact with our committee much, only at picnics and other Leader/Committee events where our 80 person leadership split time with our committee. I knew they were great and essential, but not how absolutely crucial they were. In Franklin I get that. And while they do great work, the aspect of their servitude I am most thankful for is their ability to connect me to the county relationally.

My Cheeseball Pic from the Article!

You've read about pastors breakfasts, rotary meetings and school board presentations. All of these things have been set up by or aided by my committee. I've met literally hundreds of people since being here. I was even interviewed by the local paper because the man who runs it will be a table host at our banquet and was sought out by our committee. (Here's a link to the article!) Because of that article, I've been getting phone calls from people around the county wanting to know more about Young Life, and have people who I've met since say they remember me from the front page of the paper. It is a crazy web of relationships that stems from a group of people sold out for Jesus.

Due to all of this, Young Life is becoming a truly Franklin County movement. It isn't moving into the community and making its mark, but rather being welcomed into the community and partnering with it for every high school kid. It's awesome to see and to be a part of. This was never more obvious to me than during our table host meeting. Each year in areas that have Young Life there is a banquet. This usually happens in the fall, and ours this year is November 15th. Our aim in the banquet is twofold. I think its biggest victory will be in the fact that everyone who attends will be given a taste of what Young Life is. The banquet is going to fun. Its not a stuffy black tie event, it is run, in a lot of ways, like a Young Life club. It also doubles as a fundraiser. Yes, it does take some coin to do Young Life, and our banquet will allow us the opportunity to invite people to partner with us with their resources.

Our incredible, wonderful table hosts

Just like anything else, the banquet is relational. We aren't sending out flyers or emails, taking out ads in the paper (though the article does mention it) or renting billboards. Instead we personally invite people. It starts with out committee who for the past couple months have been asking friends, coworkers and family if they would want to be a table host at our banquet. The role of a table host is simple, to 'sponsor' a table at the banquet which simply means filling up the seats at an eight person table. For them to then bring people who they would want to gain an understanding of what Young Life is and what we are doing here in FC. This past Tuesday night we had our table host meeting where our 23 table hosts met with our committee and we got to share with them our vision for the banquet. Because each person represents a table of eight, and we know we will have some overflow, our hope is to fill 200 seats with Franklin County residents excited for kids hearing the Gospel. The ripples that this will have will be massive and impactful. Who knows what the Lord has up his sleeve for this one. Like I said, relationships are important.

Club.

What a wild week its been. I've been everywhere from Roanoke to Richmond to Lawrence, Kansas. But the best part of all? Last Monday night Ben Brodin and I took 4 kids from FCHS to a Young Life club run out of Hidden Valley High School. While the picture to the right couldn't be of lower quality, it is a victorious picture. It is a picture of the very beginning. The brief glimpse at whats to come.

Before we went to meet our FCHS friends, Ben and I grabbed some pizza and talked about our plan for the evening. We decided not to tell the kids much about what club would be like. We wanted them to be surprised. We wanted them to experience it without any preconceived ideas of what it would be. We told them that they would love it, and it would be one of the best nights they'd have in a long time. But most of all we talked about how amped we were for how the Lord was working. Here we were a little over a month in with a group of kids wanting to drive 45 minutes away to see something that they have no idea about. We were encouraged.

So we met in the parking lot and all six of us climbed into Ben's car and began our excursion. As you can see from the picture, we took two girls and two boys. As of now we don't have any female leaders in the area so to have two girls be interested already is huge. I don't want to say it was 100% because of Ben's rugged good looks, but from the picture in the previous blog I think you can deduce yourself that it was a larger factor. We found the address without much of a problem and walked in together to a house smack dab in the middle of suburbia.

Hidden Valley holds their Young Life club in a house. The house was big and beautiful, and as we walked in we quickly found ourselves in a sea of shoes. We took off our own to add to the pile trying to wrap our heads around how many people must be here based on the shoes. We heard loud music coming from somewhere downstairs and we followed some fellow club-goers down the stairs into the biggest club I've ever seen.

At the end of the night, Fetzer told me there were about 140 kids there including us. As we waded through the throngs of people, trying to find a place where I could talk to our group we had tons of kids introduce themselves to us. By the time we reached the back, the one area of the room that was even remotely open, Fetz came around the corner and introduced himself to all of us. Fetzer is the face of Young Life in Roanoke, and more specifically he runs the Hidden Valley club. Fetz is a rock star at getting people to buy in to whatever is going on. As he sat there and explained to our kids what club would like that night I felt blessed that we were hearing from someone who knew Young Life backwards and forwards. Our kids were all about it.

For the next hour or so we sang stupid songs at the top of our lungs, played games, watched skits and other things that sound absolutely lame when you try to explain them. I think if I told a kid we would be singing Taylor Swift songs at club it would be a great way to prevent them from coming. But I remember looking around the room seeing kids go absolutely nuts. The quarterback of the football team singing with an arm around some random freshman kid belting out "You Belong With Me". Ridiculous. And at the end Fetz gave a quick talk about Jesus and His calling of the disciples. He likened it to the football team and how you would expect Jesus to call the best and the brightest. If you were to put a football team together you would go around finding the biggest and most skilled guys. If you were trying to change the world you might do the same. But Jesus was different. He used what was ordinary to show that He was the real deal. He took a handful of fisherman, tax collectors and zealots. He calls all of us, no matter how we look at ourselves. And at the end he said a quick prayer and invited all to Bojangles, a HVHS Young Life tradition following club.

As we drove home we got to talking about everyone's favorite part of club. For some it was simply how crazy it was, for some it was how welcoming everyone was and for some it was the talk. They wanted to know when we could start this. How could be bring this to FCHS? Where could we have it? They wanted it bad. I told them that we could start meeting and looking at what this might look like for us. To say the least they are on board.

But the highlight of my night came when Ben and I got to tell them why we wanted them there. We didn't want to just show them an awesome time, we wanted them to hear what Fetz had to say. We got to tell them that we didn't just want to run a program, but that we wanted to give them a chance to hear the best news the world have ever known. The Gospel. That was the reason Ben and I were going to football games. That's why we were at FCHS as often as we could be. We didn't want them to get lost in the hype of club and miss the message.

So moving forward, we've got a lot of work to do. We have an incredible group of kids that is ready to get rolling. They want to go again in a week or so and bring their friends. They want to start meeting, a meeting we will call campaigners, weekly and going deep into what all of this means. The Lord is moving in big, big ways.

In conclusion, please continue to pray that the Lord would be guiding us. This is a ship that is moving very, very fast now and we want to be steering it with diligence. We don't want to get caught up in hype, but to slow down and allow the Lord to guide us. He will. And it will be incredible to watch.

10 Days Crammed Into a Short Blog

Ben Brodin: YL leader extraordinaire

I think this is a great picture, literally, of what is going on in Franklin County. This is Ben Brodin, FCHS's first official volunteer leader. Friday night Ben and I got to go to the FCHS football game against Christiansburg. Unfortunately, my alma mater was the victor against my new home, but there was much more going on than a simple football game. Again Ben and I found our seats in the student section, this time knowing many of the kids names and being greeted as if we belonged. We met knew kids, caught up with some we hadn't seen in a week, and continued to build relationships. This week's theme in the student section was camouflage, Franklin County's favorite color, hence why Ben is in his finest camo jacket with camo duct table attached his deer antlers. This is what can be referred to as a "Total Young Life move".

To catch you up, the past 10 days have been a blur. This entry might not be as much of a narrative as the others, but its aim is to give you a few glimpes of whats been going on. I have officially become a "Yearbook Consultant". My fingerprints are in the school system, my background check came back clean (guesst they didn't look hard enough), and I got my TB shot. All systems are a go. Last week I got to help out in class on three differents days and now I know all the yearbook kids, about 25 in all. Kids are starting to recognize me in the school and even come up and talk to me. Honestly it feels great to feel even a small sense of belonging at the school on a social level.

Volleyball games have been another huge way of meeting kids. My buddy Max, pictured in a few previous blogs, and I have made the trek to a couple of away games and its allowed me to meet a lot more kids and even parents. Most of the volleyball players parents know me to some degree which is awesome.

Captaining a Barge

In my quest to explore the entire county I got to help move a barge at Smith Mountain Lake. The Lake is about 25 minutes away from my house, but it is a huge party of Franklin County. A lot of kids that go to FCHS live on the lake.

Last week we were also able to have a Pastor's Breakfast. The goal of this was for us to build relationships with the people who are already doing ministry in Franklin County. While Young Life is certainly a new presence, there are committed people who love Jesus and desire for students to know Him that have been working here for years. As we aim to come alongside them it was important for us to establish a presence with them and be transparent in what we are doing. We had around 10 pastors that shared with us in a time of fellowship before Steve Schmitt and I gave them a brief presentation on what Young Life is and where we currently stand. I was left with an encouraged heart and a lot of people I knew would be praying for our mission.

I was also invited to speak at our local Rotary club. Soon I hope to do a blog about my committee, but for now I'll suffice it to say that they are incredible. They have vision, passion, are hard-working and committed to doing whatever they can for kids to meet Jesus. A few of them are rotary members and wanted me to be able to present Young Life to a lot of the big movers and shakers in the community. While Steve Schmitt had given them a presentation a few months ago, it was great to be able to update them with where we were now and field questions. A lot of important connections were made, and again, it was a great place to build relationships in the community.

The Never-Ending Pile of Thank You Notes ( A Very Good Thing)

With all the incredible things going on I am extremely behind on my Thank-You notes. As I write them I'm continually amazed at how much I have to be thankful for. The last blog was entitled "My Cup Overflows" and it is still overflowing. I couldn't ask for more.

But the Lord has given me more! Tonight Ben Brodin and I will be taking a group of students to a Young Life club for Hidden Valley. Andy Fetzer is a good friend and the Area Director for Young Life in Roanoke. Fetz, as we call him, has graciously opened his club up to us so that we can give our kids a vision for what it could be, and will be, in Franklin. Fetzer runs one of the best clubs in the state. He knows Young Life backwards and forwards and we couldn't be more excited that this club will be the first impression of Young Life that a lot of these kids have. Fetz told us we could expect about 120 kids there from HVHS, as well as us, crammed into one of the HVHS students houses. It will be insane and incredible.

The group of kids going came together without much work from Ben or myself. I told Max that I wanted to take him up to see club because he'd voiced a lot of interest in bringing Young Life here. From there, he told a few of his friends and it got to be 7 or 8 kids that asked us about it. So we decided to try and take two cars and Ben and I could be the drivers.

This could be a huge boost for us. The Lord is bringing along a lot of kids who have a passion for Young Life (even though they haven't even seen it) and a lot of influence in the school. This is big, big stuff. Jesus has big things in mind. Apart from all this strategic talk there is something much bigger going on here. Tonight, at 8 the Gospel will be preached to a group of FCHS kids in a way that speaks directly to them. Young Life is great but its merely a vehicle for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While I am excited for what this could mean for us, our fall weekend trip,and our future club plans, I want to be much more focused on the eternal significance that tonight will hold.

Dear friends I thank you for continuing to support me in all ways the ways that you are. I hope you continue to see the Lord's hand move here in Franklin and be encouraged. I hope that I will have another update very soon on the huge, huge things the Lord is going to do tonight. Away we go.

My Cup Overflows

Here is FCHS looking like a good pasture!

For our Young Life training we have a certain list of books that we have to read. One of them is an in depth look of Psalm 23 from a Shepherd's perspective. Its fantastic. In Verse 5 David says that his 'cup overflows'. This is a statement that I've learned to love and its the only way I know how to describe what is going on in my heart in response to the Lord moving in Franklin County.

Yes, this is yet another example of a big, big thing the Lord has given us. It has almost become tiresome keeping everyone updated because of how much goodness is being poured out on us. Its almost too much to handle in the best way possible. There are many different biblical examples of different people seeing God and sheilding themselves from Him because He is just too good. That was such a strange concept to me until recently. Not because I feel even close to what they experienced, but because I can see how the relentless goodness of the Lord can be overwhelming. I'm not complaining.

Enough introduction, the moment we have all been waiting for finally came. For those of you new to the blog I would suggest reading from the beginning. I know get long-winded at points but I think it will be well worth your while. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, we got our decision from the schoolboard. Let me preface.



An impatient 22-year-old

As an impatient 22-year-old not wanting to wait weeks for a response I decided to set up a meeting with Principal Decker. We set Thursday the 20th at 10 a.m. as our time and I showed up 20 minutes early not wanting to miss it. She called me in and we shared in some small talk before she got to the point. The schoolboard had liked our presentation. They felt comfortable allowing Deb to set whatever parameters she felt would be work our for all parties involved. So, in some senses, we were back to square one. The ball was in Deb's court.

*Sidenote: This is something I would have seen as a negative if it weren't for the wisdom I've gained from men much wiser than I. While it may seem that we were right back where we started, just two weeks later, there are so many positives that came from the situation. First of all, the entire schoolboard knows who we are now, and is for us about as much as they can be. Secondly, the Lord's timing is perfect. All the things that have happened the pass week and a half happened outside the school. Lastly, the Lord loves to teach me patience. And I need that. And He did. Anyway, back to the narrative.

Deb said that she felt comfortable with the parameters we talked about a few weeks ago. This meant starting slow. No going to lunches for now, no hanging out after school ended, but if we wanted we could go the route that FCA does and have meetings within the school on club days. For those of you that know Young Life, thats not quite the way we operate. Our goal in going into the school isn't to form a club, but to build relationships with kids that will carry outside of the school. We aren't there to proselitize in the hallways, but rather to meet highschoolers where they are at. It wasn't quite the response I was looking for.

But the Lord is good. He knows what He is doing. And sometimes it takes weeks or months or even years before He gives us what we ask for. Sometimes He doesn't because He has something much better in mind. And sometimes He gives us more than what we wanted five minutes later. The saga continues.

At some point in our meeting Keith Pennington also joined us. You'll remember Keith as the Director of Curriculum who also joined us for our first meeting. If you don't remember that its probably because this is the first blog post you read and you need to go back and read from the beginning! Trust me already. Deb made and offhand comment to Keith about a meeting they had with the two teachers who are running the yearbook later that day. The teacher that had run it in previous years had left, and these two new teachers were left with the task of producing it and teaching the class with little or no experience in yearbook.

The FCYL Office, with a CHS chair.

In my time at CHS I took yearbook as many times as the Guidance Department would let me. Liz Hollie was one of the best teachers I've ever had and I would have done anything to hang out with her more. Also, yearbook class was easy. I had mixed motives. But, by my senior year, I was made co-editor along with my dear friend Mary Marcenelle. But enough about my outstanding accolades.

I suggested to Deb and Keith that I could help out with the yearbook. Deb looked at me and said "Would you really? We meet with them later today, we could introduce you to them and see how you could help." Before I started doing backflips about the possibility of gaining an 'in' at the school, we finished our conversations and I left the school for an hour before meeting with the two teachers later in the day.

As I came in Deb and Keith introduced me to the two new teachers, and left us to talk. The first introduced herself as Mrs. Deems and opened the conversation with "I've been praying for you. We needed help with this and needed someone with some experience."

I won't go into all the details, because this blog is already half of a novel by itself. But here is how it works. FCHS is broken up into four blocks. The last block of the day is yearbook class which I can come to any and all days that I want to. If I can't make it, no big deal, any help is great. This also means I will get to know the 25 kids in the class well, including the daughter of a committee member. This also means that I have a reason to walk around the school, meet kids in every group, take pictures at any game and have a legitimate reason to be in the school. It also means that when I hang out with Mr. Janney (again previously mentioned, go back and READ!) at the end of the day after I get done with class, its not a big deal. In fact once I met Deb at the end of the day to tell her what we'd worked out, she told me if I'm with a teacher I can really be there anytime. And now that I know teachers, I will be.

Took my boy AirMax to the HV V-ball game!

OK, OK, praise the Lord. How in the world. It has been less that a month sense I've been here and He is going crazy. Every door opened, prayers being answered, giant, giant stuff. As Alan Janney informed me; "This doesn't happen. I hope you know that." He meant that if you don't see that as God overflowing your cup, your nuts. Hallelujah. I hope you are inspired.



Now, here is a note for those of you whose cups are empty. I know there are points in my life where if I was reading this I would be jealous. I would loook at this and say "OK Lord when the heck is my turn? When do I get to have my ministry be blowing up?" But the thing is, it isn't our ministry. It is us being responsive to God and allowing Him to work in different circumstances. Right now He is teaching me through a time of prosperity. I thank Him for that. In many, many times in the past he has taught me through much more difficult circumstances; death, struggle, lack of money, lack of 'good ministry', etc. The point is, wherever I'm at in my life I want to say "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." So while it is easy for me to say this now, trust what He is doing. Find what He is trying to teach you. Don't scorn the moment because its not exactly what you want.

OK thats it. Send this blog to people you think it will encourage. I think thats one of the reasons I've had the heart to do this, to encourage.

Friday Night Lights

Starting an area isn't easy. There are a lot of things that need to happen before things can really get rolling. In my time at Virginia Tech I took for granted all the things that happen behind the scenes, committee work, fundraising, establishing a leadership at a college, etc. These are hard things to do from scratch. It has been incredible to be able to watch them get started. However, my passion is for high school kids knowing Christ. So while many things were starting to get rolling, I had yet to meet a single high school kid. That changed Friday.

Friday night Ben Brodin and I were excited to go to the home football game. Ben is a guy who knows Young Life, his dad was on staff back in the day, and he spent some time with YL in Montana. He is great with high-schoolers and loves the Lord. He is an asset to our two person team. He knows some high schoolers from his church, Trinity Ecumentical, so we had a few ins. We headed up a bit early excited for our first real oppurtunity to meet kids. He texted a few of his guys from Trinity that he though might be there, and figured we would meet up with them at some point. We left early so that we could get there in plenty of time and before we even made it to the gates we met one of the guys that Ben knew, Matt, and his friend Josh. As we talked with them for a bit we found out that it was neon night at the game, and that some in the student section would be wearing neon.

As we headed into the game Ben and I were talking about how we wished we would have known about neon night before so that we could have gotten shirts or something neon. Ben turned and asked me "Why don't we go to Wal-mart and grab a bunch of glowsticks and throw them out to the student section." Brilliant! We ran to Wal-Mart, found a neon shirt and bought out there entire section of glowsticks. We put them in a bag and headed back to the game.

At first we weren't sure how to get the student section. It was packed, and there wasn't much room to squeeze in. In addition to that, we didn't know any kids so we didn't just want to creep in behind them. So we decided to take a lap around to see what we could do. At that point I got a text from our very own Cheryle Aldridge, committee member extraordinaire, asking if I was at the game so that I could come meet some high schoolers that she knew. On the way over to meet her I ran into our favorite administrator Deb Decker. I got to introduce her to Ben and chat with her for ten or fifteen minutes about the goings on at the school (no word from School Board yet). She mentioned two kids to meet, one by the name of Ryan Peavy who was leading the student section and would be wearing a cowboy hat.

So we met with Cheryl and headed back to the student section, on a mission to find Ryan Peavy. It wasn't hard. He's was a big boy with a cowboy hat screaming his head off in the middle of the student section. For those of you familiar with Young Life he was the definition of a key kid. Not knowing quite what to say I told him Deb Decker had sent me to find him so I could give him the glow sticks to throw out to the student section. Upon showing him the giant bag full he, and the rest of the student section went nuts. They were so excited that they insisted that I sit with them and literally pulled me up by my arms into the student section. For the rest of the game I got to sit (stand really) the whole time in the student section meeting every kid around me that I could. I lost Ben in the shuffle only to look down and see him with a  completely different group of kids. It was crazy.

They I asked what I was doing there and I told them about Young Life, some of them knew it from family or friends. Ann Taylor Walker knew about it from her brothers, and we even started talking about Rockbridge. It was truly crazy. One kid, Max Harper (pictured left in his ketchup costume), was so stoked about me being there he told me HE was going to pick ME up the next morning and take me to the volleyball tournament and that we would hang out all day. In all we met about 30 kids, and countless more saw us in the crowd and must have wondered who the heck we were. Talk about going to where kids are at right?

Now I want to stop here and emphasize some things. This is our first 'contact work'. We knew a few kids in a school of 2,300 going into this football game. We had no prior set up, no former leaders to name drop, no game plan. What we did have was prayer and a humbled heart. It took me two and a half weeks to meet a kid, but with the Lord when it rains, it pours. I don't know what it was that made Ben think of glowsticks. There are two many coincidences involved from to to say it was all chance. The Lord is doing big, big things and responding to prayers in real ways. My time walking that very football field praying wasn't in vain. Don't worry about how long the Lord is taking. Don't be impatient or try and do things yourself. Be patient, be prayerful and listen. Follow where He leads.

In conclusion I hope this has been another encouraging update. There will be more soon, I'm having  a hard time keeping up with writing all that the Lord is doing. But trust me, I'm not complaining.

The School Board Meeting!

The Monday of the school board meeting was one where I realized my severe inadequacies. Thank the Lord that he chooses to work through broken vessels.

Steve Schmitt has worked for Young Life for the past 31 years. Currently he is the Regional Developer for Southwest Virginia, but before that he was the Area Director in Blacksburg a position currently held by Dave Sloop. This means that while I was a punk high school kid coming up through the ranks of Christiansburg High School and going to Young Life, Steve Schmitt knew me, or at least knew of me. In college Steve led a Bible study in my apartment and through our relationship he encouraged me to apply for staff and talked to me about Franklin County long before I was placed there. I'm honored that I get to walk through this process with him.

Steve and I talked on the phone that morning, as we would be presenting together, and came up with a basic outline of what we wanted to say. This wasn't Schmitty's first rodeo. He'd been in similar situations and knew what would be good for the school board to hear. We got off the phone and I practiced what I would say all the while checking the clock as I watched 7 o'clock get closer and closer and my butterflies become more and more numerous.

Schmitty came around 5 and we grabbed dinner together after practicing what we would say a few times. We showed up at the school board office around 6:30 and waited outside for a few of our committee members. Jane Jacobsen was the first to meet us. Jane is our committee chair and I thank God that she is. She is dedicated, driven, organized and above all she loves Jesus in a way that drives everything she does. I couldn't ask for a better captain of our ship. Second was Tom Rickard. Tom is the librarian at one of the local elementary schools. He is well known in the school system and an all around great guy. Going in to a meeting with school administration he is a great person to have backing you up. Lastly Al Flora arrived. I'm not sure if there is a person in the county that Al doesn't know. He had a comment for nearly every person that we walked by in the way to the office. It's good to know people that know people.

So in we walked, Steve and I flanked by our Franklin County family praying that the Lord would speak through us and allow us access to the school. Immediately upon walking in I saw Deb Decker, the principal at FCHS. I went up and made small talk with her and ended up sitting next to her as the meeting started. I remained unsure of how sold she was on Young Life, but I was glad she was my seat neighbor. As I looked at the schedule that she handed me, I saw that we were the first order of new business.

After a few quick orders of old business they moved on to new business. Sue Rogers, who we had met before, introduced us and the fact that we would be speaking on behalf of Young Life. We approached the podium that sat ten or so feet away from where the School Board sat. The tables that they sat at were raised about a foot so that we literally looked up to them as we gave our presentation. Many of them, there were ten or so, had painted their framed picture behind them on the wall. They were official. I was nervous.

So our time came. As Steve gave his part he introduced me saying that I was a VT grad to which the room responded with cheers. "Did you think we'd put a UVA grad here?"Steve quipped, giving way to laughter across the board which lightened the mood considerably. There is something to the way Young Life uses humor to allow people to be unguarded. From then on I felt free to just talk, rather than feeling I had to do perfectly.

-Side note: The whole week I'd been reading a lot of Scripture on the Holy Spirit. There are many examples in the Bible where believers come before authorities (most of them wanting to kill them, I realize my situation is a bit different) but they talk about not worrying about what you will say, because the Holy Spirit will speak through you.* This means it isn't our job to convince them. Of course I wanted to be as prepared as possible, but there was no argument that I could make that would seal the deal. That is where prayer comes in. That is where we have to fall on our knees, rely on the Lord and trust that He is going to work for His purposes. So I tried my best to humbly do that and when the moment came, I spoke.

Now, my part was by no means perfect. I said what I wanted to say. Steve concluded briefly and I had the feeling that there were a few important things we wanted to touch on that we left out. However, they gave time for the board to ask us questions.

As people began to ask, some prefaced saying something along the lines of "I want you to know that I'm for you, but what about . . . ". You could tell in their faces that they understood and supported what we wanted to in loving kids. As they asked questions I became more and more thankful that Steve was there. As I said, he had been here before. He understood the questions they had in a way that I couldn't. When they asked "What happens when [insert apparent problem]" He could respond "Well when I was Area Director in Blacksburg, this did happen in [insert school name] and we handled it by [insert super wise solution] and it was positive because we [insert more things that make us look like we know what we're doing]".

The ultimate 'God is with us' moment came as Steve was answering a question and I felt a tap on my shoulder. Note that the rest of those that came to the meeting were about 10 feet behind us, so someone had to leave there seat to get my attention. I turn to see Deb Decker who whispered to me to tell the board what I had told her about my getting involved in Young Life in high school. When the opportunity didn't immediately present itself, she piped up from the crowd allowing me a chance to answer. That was the moment that I knew that the principal of FCHS was for us in a big way. It was huge. The whole board saw her talk to me. The volumes that must have spoken, unreal.

As we finished, we told them what we were looking to do in the school and they said they would discuss is. No timetable for a response, and here I sit a week later and there is nothing yet. We know how busy they are and how many things they need to discuss, we know it could take a while. We know that the Lord is with us, and in His timing His purposes will be accomplished. That was demonstrated so clearly I have no grounds to question it.

The icing on the cake came as we once again took our seats the next gentleman, a member of the football booster club came to give his order of new business. He began with something along the lines of "I know this is off of my topic, but we had Young Life when I was in high school in South Carolina. It brought our school together and gave us a sense of unity. I can't say enough good things about it. But what I'm here for today is . . . ". He went on to talk about advertisements on the gates at the football field, a subject of which the school board had a million things to say about how unsure they were that this thing would work out. In the end, signs on the football field got more opposition than a 22-year-old man coming in to the school in hopes of bringing kids to Christ.

The Lord is with us.

I apologize for how long this post is, how late it is, and my lack of story telling ability. Above all though, I hope that you see what the Lord is doing through the prayers of his people. I hope you are as amped as I am about the doors He is opening in Franklin County. If the Lord is for us, who can stand against us? What a beautiful picture of Christ's love. Thank you for your support friends, more to come soon.

*A great resource for this is Francis Chan's Forgotten God. An even better resource is the Bible, specifically Mark 13:11 and Luke 12:12)