August 2018 Newsletter

It's never a surprise when August rolls around; the end of summer breaks for our teens, new military students and families moving into the area to attend the staff college in Leavenworth over the summer and settling into their surroundings and the anticipated and dreaded back-to-school on the horizon. Emotions that pour into our teens in this area are anticipation and excitement but some are apprehensive and unhappy with the school, students, new home location and anything else that can hijack a students' mind in the coming of a new school year.

A record crew of adults and teens out during a Super Sonic night playing volleyball together

The students we have had the pleasure of working alongside and meeting this summer have had a blast just doing what teens like to do - enjoy time together and build relationships with the people they hang out with. Instead of spending all our time in the gym like we did in the school year each week, we chose to make it a 'simple summer' and invited our teens and their friends to come out into the community to build opportunities to work with more students who aren't just all about gym time and basketball. God really provided moments for us as we alternated times at the local park in Leavenworth, in the Salvation Army gym and also at the newly built Super Sonic fast food restaurant which installed a sand volleyball court in their property. It was incredibly amazing to see new and current students in which we knew choose to come out and spend time with us, whether playing volleyball, ultimate frisbee, touch football or just hang out and enjoy a slushee we bought for the teens at Sonic. 

From left: Derek, Jacob, Dakota and Richard all
chillin' together during a Super Sonic nite

One key thing our leadership noticed was how our existing teens have grown into a dependable group of youth who live, eat and breathe all what we offer for them, no matter what. Both Phil and Allison have groups of teens who will come out and spend time with them in whatever capacity is provided, whether going to the Legends for a bite to eat or helping clean up the Salvation Army flower beds and gym. Both staff have ongoing chats with these groups of teens who are always asking when the 'next moment' will be that they all get to hang out. Truly, this is what God has instilled in our opportunities with these teens and is a blessing to build incredible relationships with them that go deeper than just the weekly gathering at the gym on Thursday evenings. 

The snapshot after the Basehor teen color war

The Affiliate chose to pour into simple and effective moments to end the summer well with a first-ever color war for Basehor and surrounding areas to reach a new group of teens never done before. In praying and listening to youth which we reached in a small amount in that area, we chose to expand the reach by providing a messy but wonderfully fun summer's ending event at the city park. The weather was perfect and allowed everyone to enjoy the event, plus some parents chose to jump right into things and have fun with us. We began the event getting soaked with water challenges and then began to play capture the flag to see the color fly. The outcome of it all was a wild and messy color-induced memory these teens would go to school and tell their friends all about. If that wasn't enough, we had a friend of the ministry who does professional photography and videography come out and spend some of their own personal time taking photos and videos of the event! 

Basehor teens having a blast in the color war

The blessing to the Affiliate occurred when we had those parents share with us personally how they loved what we provided and they were highly interested in hearing more about what Youth For Christ could provide in a regular basis in their community and were open to coming to an information session in the near future. We ended up having a decent hand full of parents show interest and partnering that with a few parents who already had said they'd come when we shared the idea, we will be having our first meeting to see where God leads us in the southern part of the county to work with military connected teens and their friends. We ask you to be praying for us that we don't shove an agenda but listen and provide information to the adults who show up and might want to get behind something like this in the near future. Truly our hearts are all about empowering adults who want to relationally love our teens right where they are and point them toward Jesus! 

Finally, as the Affiliate is finishing out the month of August, we intentionally stopped doing weekly ministry after mid-month to leave 3 weeks open for rest, prayer and preparation of doing weekly ministry through the school year starting after Labor Day. We had known other locations in which we have worked alongside who have used these weeks off for leader development and leader celebration time, so we felt like it was a blessing God was providing us to utilize the final 3 weeks of August to spend time together as a team so we were more united than ever going into the upcoming school year. Little did we know that we'd have FOUR new leaders to work alongside and see God's hand all over this chance to spend time with one another regularly. Three of our newest leaders are active duty soldiers who work on Fort Leavenworth and came from their walking into the Salvation Army and by simply asking where they can help out; thus their leadership role began with the Thursday night basketball ministry and their own faith background and athletic background. The fourth newest leader came from a friendship of reaching out to the local church community and them coming back to us when their seasons shifted and she's all about helping out in our opportunity where we feed our teens each week. 
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Staffing updates: 

Allison Adragna - Allison was visited by 2 dear friends from college this month. She enjoyed getting to spend time with them again. Continued warm weather means more hikes and time spent at the lake. Please continue to pray for her as she continues to work to be 100% funded.

Allison (left) with two teens she's known from mentoring who attended the color war

Phil, Amy and Parker Parsons - Phil was recently introduced as the newest member of the Leavenworth High School football team, specifically their chaplain. He'll be a key piece of the vision and mission of the head coach who hopes to impact these young men for greater good and point them toward Christ. Amy has found a place where she can plug in spiritually with a group of ladies on Fort Leavenworth at the weekly PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), specifically in their small group studies, all the while having care for Parker while attending. Parker continues to grow quickly and soon enough, he will be walking and making mom and dad stay even more on their toes than they are now!

One of Phil's photos from the field as he has had permission to be there during practices

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We thank each of you who partner prayerfully and financially as God has called us to provide ongoing relational ministry to Leavenworth County, Kansas. We are always looking for additional leaders and board members for our advisory board as well if you are in the Kansas City area and would like to serve with us. Should you wish to partner with us in any way, we are always looking for additional monthly, one-time or annual giving partners. 

To give to the YFC Leavenworth County Affiliate, you may go to this link: https://yfc.givingfuel.com/31081.