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.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
The Banquet
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. |
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! |
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. |
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! |
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.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Controlled Chaos
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.
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.
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.
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.
 |
| Epic. FCHS's first ever Fall Weekend Sign-Up. His Last Name? Rayburn. |
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. |
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 |
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.
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