Relationships matter. Even to adults.
As we move into the beauty of some great spring weather, some phenomenal opportunities with local Kingdom partners in the area are springing up as well! Dating all the way to the start of the year, I have had the chance to go and spend time with the folks of a local church basketball outreach which happens each week on Tuesday nights. I have had the pleasure to get to know Pastor Jerry and his son, Carey, who are leading the charge to reach students who want a place to play basketball each week at their upstairs gym in their church. Through getting to know where they are coming from and their motivations of 'how and why' they are doing this outreach each week have helped us both understand our skill sets and where each of us has been called by God. Most recent, Pastor Jerry called me to ask if I would help lead the Tuesday night event due to the fact he and his son would be out of pocket, yet again another bridge built by God and His plans of how we can serve our local community in reaching some great teens.
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| The First Baptist Church gymnasium on a Tuesday night |
Glancing back to some of our previous training, it is pivotal and a large crutch to the success of the affiliate to build relationships and collaborate with Kingdom building adults and like minded partners. It is one of the key 5 essentials to the ministry success of Youth For Christ. Although another piece of the essentials is loving relationships with teens, I feel it's been pivotal to build relationships with phenomenal adults who would like to lovingly pour into the teens in our area as well, hence knowing more of their own stories and how God is shaping them into being His vessels locally to work alongside us. This then shapes another one of our essentials which is SO incredibly powerful, having adults who empower teens from every people group to live out their faith as they come to know about Jesus and follow Him.
That then puts us in a crossroads of something of great proportion of late. Amy and I have had the opportunity to get to know key collaborators in the community who love to build relationships and 'go where teens are' in our area to create a place and space that is safe for them. We have met an incredible guy named Jermaine, aka Too Short, who leads the Unity in the Community movement. This guy is all about grassroots ministry and going to the people and creating ministry opportunities throughout Leavenworth. Next, add in Joe Buis, the director at the Leavenworth Youth Achievement Center (YAC), which is where Phil served on their board for a number of years and allowed us to reconnect with them and see where they needed some hands on deck. Fast forward to today, we are helping the YAC with a video game night on Mondays throughout the semester to reach more teens who just want to come, hang out and play some games after school.
Now, it's late-April and we are seeing a full-on collaborative effort to host a 3 on 3 middle school and high school basketball tournament at First Baptist Church, co-hosted by YFC Leavenworth County, Unity in the Community and Leavenworth YAC. We are literally paving the way to reach our teens in an effort where they feel loved and have a place to be encouraged and play competitively in a healthy environment with their friends.
But wait.......if that isn't enough of what God's been doing for our partnerships locally, there's still more! One day, Phil went into the local Salvation Army offices to see how we can serve them and see what kind of needs they might have. Unbeknownst to us, they had an
incredibly underutilized gymnasium that has come upon recent scrutiny from the past city leadership. Lieutenant James Beardsley shared that he didn't have enough adult help to run programs in the gym - therefore that's where YFC Leavenworth County steps into the fray. As we write this letter, we will be co-partnering with a launch of the "4:13 Ministry" with the Leavenworth Salvation Army. This ministry partnership will incorporate using their gym to reach students in the summer with basketball and potentially dodge ball events. The lieutenant has been so excited that they're already talking about promotion with t-shirts, ribbon cutting and praying over the launch of this effort together in the community. The Kansas City leadership of the Salvation Army is also ramping up in excitement. God is SO good!
A pivotal piece of this puzzle includes intentionally spending time with adults when God opens doors for me to take them to lunch, coffee or just hanging out with them on the basketball court after a Tuesday night outreach event. It's counter-intuitive to hold on any student ministry typically, but God has been blessing this effort since we have been spending more time with adults in the past months. Specifically, we are now using Thursday evenings to do exactly what we do with our teens, but with our adults who are interested in launching the Salvation Army/YFC summer basketball opportunity. We're sharing our own personal stories, getting all folks background checked, spending real time with one another and even playing some basketball so we truly know the folks we're surrounded with as we kick off ministry together. Another area of this includes humbly serving the Lansing Middle School staff in their 'keeping the Challenge Day Alive" efforts. I have had the pleasure of offering my additional time in their upcoming finale in May and rallying other ministry leaders to help with the efforts with their time or donations so the school doesn't have to ask their parents as they normally do each year. It's been quite an opportunity to serve but also hear the voices of our local middle school and what the community needs beyond what's inside the school each day.
We continue to ask you all to pray for us as we are seeing new groundwork come together in places we never imagined. It's been tough at times to go slower than anticipated, but we believe to see something for the long-term that it will take longer and more intentional relationship building than the quick start and fizzle out processes which can happen. Please pray for adults to join us in this effort, wherever their hearts are led toward to serve. We also ask for you to pray for our newest addition to the team, Allison Adragna, who arrived mid-April and will be navigating and discerning where God is leading her to cultivate opportunities in our area to reach our lost military teens and their friends. Please do pray for her initial needs of transportation and a place to live as well so she can get her roots planted wherever God desires her to be in our county.
Onward for His mission, loving the lost and destitute teens in Leavenworth County,
~Phil, Amy & baby
Parsons
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| The YAC logo |
That then puts us in a crossroads of something of great proportion of late. Amy and I have had the opportunity to get to know key collaborators in the community who love to build relationships and 'go where teens are' in our area to create a place and space that is safe for them. We have met an incredible guy named Jermaine, aka Too Short, who leads the Unity in the Community movement. This guy is all about grassroots ministry and going to the people and creating ministry opportunities throughout Leavenworth. Next, add in Joe Buis, the director at the Leavenworth Youth Achievement Center (YAC), which is where Phil served on their board for a number of years and allowed us to reconnect with them and see where they needed some hands on deck. Fast forward to today, we are helping the YAC with a video game night on Mondays throughout the semester to reach more teens who just want to come, hang out and play some games after school.
 |
Jermaine and his wife Jessica,
who lead the Unity in the Community movement |
Now, it's late-April and we are seeing a full-on collaborative effort to host a 3 on 3 middle school and high school basketball tournament at First Baptist Church, co-hosted by YFC Leavenworth County, Unity in the Community and Leavenworth YAC. We are literally paving the way to reach our teens in an effort where they feel loved and have a place to be encouraged and play competitively in a healthy environment with their friends.
 |
All of the adults together with a few teams who participated in the 3 on 3 basketball collaborative tournament.
(Jermaine from Unity in the Community in red t-shirt, Jerry & Carey from FBC Leavenworth on far right back row) |
But wait.......if that isn't enough of what God's been doing for our partnerships locally, there's still more! One day, Phil went into the local Salvation Army offices to see how we can serve them and see what kind of needs they might have. Unbeknownst to us, they had an
incredibly underutilized gymnasium that has come upon recent scrutiny from the past city leadership. Lieutenant James Beardsley shared that he didn't have enough adult help to run programs in the gym - therefore that's where YFC Leavenworth County steps into the fray. As we write this letter, we will be co-partnering with a launch of the "4:13 Ministry" with the Leavenworth Salvation Army. This ministry partnership will incorporate using their gym to reach students in the summer with basketball and potentially dodge ball events. The lieutenant has been so excited that they're already talking about promotion with t-shirts, ribbon cutting and praying over the launch of this effort together in the community. The Kansas City leadership of the Salvation Army is also ramping up in excitement. God is SO good!
 |
| A panoramic view of the Salvation Army gymnasium |
A pivotal piece of this puzzle includes intentionally spending time with adults when God opens doors for me to take them to lunch, coffee or just hanging out with them on the basketball court after a Tuesday night outreach event. It's counter-intuitive to hold on any student ministry typically, but God has been blessing this effort since we have been spending more time with adults in the past months. Specifically, we are now using Thursday evenings to do exactly what we do with our teens, but with our adults who are interested in launching the Salvation Army/YFC summer basketball opportunity. We're sharing our own personal stories, getting all folks background checked, spending real time with one another and even playing some basketball so we truly know the folks we're surrounded with as we kick off ministry together. Another area of this includes humbly serving the Lansing Middle School staff in their 'keeping the Challenge Day Alive" efforts. I have had the pleasure of offering my additional time in their upcoming finale in May and rallying other ministry leaders to help with the efforts with their time or donations so the school doesn't have to ask their parents as they normally do each year. It's been quite an opportunity to serve but also hear the voices of our local middle school and what the community needs beyond what's inside the school each day.
We continue to ask you all to pray for us as we are seeing new groundwork come together in places we never imagined. It's been tough at times to go slower than anticipated, but we believe to see something for the long-term that it will take longer and more intentional relationship building than the quick start and fizzle out processes which can happen. Please pray for adults to join us in this effort, wherever their hearts are led toward to serve. We also ask for you to pray for our newest addition to the team, Allison Adragna, who arrived mid-April and will be navigating and discerning where God is leading her to cultivate opportunities in our area to reach our lost military teens and their friends. Please do pray for her initial needs of transportation and a place to live as well so she can get her roots planted wherever God desires her to be in our county.
 |
The big announcement put together by
our dog, Neicy, that we are expecting a baby in October 2017! |
Finally, pray as we
are expecting an expansion to the Parsons family in late-October. Pray for Amy
and the baby’s health as we are excitedly awaiting the day to welcome this
bundle of joy to our world. God is SO good!
Onward for His mission, loving the lost and destitute teens in Leavenworth County,
