1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
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The HS group of girls during their rock climbing day.
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Sometimes there are seasons of life where this verse is so
difficult to live by. We would be lying if we said that everything has been
sunshine and roses since moving back to Kansas. We have yet to find a home,
which makes it hard to try and get settled. Trying to navigate this new season
of ministry has been quite difficult as well.
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The MS girls preparing cookies to enjoy together.
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During the seasons of difficulty, God provides us glimpses
of hope that help sustain us through the struggles. God is always faithful,
even in the tough times and we are choosing to focus on these glimpses of hope
with a spirit of thankfulness, trusting God’s perfect timing and His plan for
both our family and the ministry to military teens here in the greater
Leavenworth community.
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Mr. Clay gives the talk during HS Club one evening.
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A few of those moments have included a high school girl’s
day to Kansas City for rock climbing and finishing up with dinner and fall
pumpkin decorating together. The middle school girls also got together with a
few leaders to enjoy baking cookies and playing some rousing games just to lay
a foundation of relationships and spending time with one another. Some pivotal
student leadership has launched as of late where Andrew came up and asked if he
could take the lead on student prayer over specific prayer needs of the
students each week. High school student leadership continued when Karis and
Charlie teamed up to kick off a student-led small group Bible study to be held
on Tuesdays and had nearly 20 in their first week getting together. Finally,
Olivia, from Campus Life began brainstorming on what students who had personal
struggles who would benefit from attending the weekly group we’re putting
together to reach teens who would never trust or desire attending anything that
looked like church.
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Caroline on the right with Faith
showing off their pumpkins.
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In Jesus’s day, as the early Church was getting started, it
was certainly a slow process. Today as we try to navigate and redefine
expectations of military youth ministry in the Leavenworth area, we’re also
finding that it is a slow process that requires both a lot of patience and
effort. Not only have we seen amazing continued growth in our on-post weekly
middle and high school ministry, we have seen small groups and special events
blossom with good attendance as well. Just this past week, we launched our
first off-post ministry location for middle and high school students which
allows us to work toward our overall vision of reaching every military teen.
Our hope is that through this ministry location, students that do not yet know
Jesus will feel comfortable enough to attend and get connected so we can point
them to a life-giving relationship with Jesus. God is certainly on the move
here is this community, despite all of our personal struggles.
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Racing to text in fastest during
a HS game called 'emoji hunt.'
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This season has really stretched us, but we are grateful for
the opportunity to show our students that choosing to follow Christ doesn’t
necessarily mean that everything will be easy. We have tried to be transparent
with them about this season of transition we are currently in. Students have
blown us away in sharing their own raw, personal stories of how they have
struggled and how they have seen God’s hand at work, even through the darkest
moments. It’s amazing what can happen when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable
and obey the Spirit’s leading.
Although we are seeing ups and downs you can see, just as
the Christian rock band 7eventh Time down’s song would quote “God is on the
move, on the move, hallelujah!”
We ask you to join us in celebrating:
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Student leadership explosion in each place we’re
reaching teens
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Fall camp fully booked and experiencing “where
stories collide” together
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Adult leadership coming together to expand
reaching more teens
Humbly we ask you to pray:
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For us to find a home to settle fully into the
area of Leavenworth County
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Opportunities to connect and reach more off-post
military unchurched teens
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Continued partnerships with local schools
We thank each of you
for keeping us in the mission, loving and reaching teens, just as they are. Should any of you feel the desire to partner with us in any way, you may go to the online giving link here: https://yfc.givingfuel.com/30631 and if you want to be added to our prayer team, feel free to email us at pparsons@yfcmail.org.
Phil & Amy
