March 2018 Newsletter

Twenty months ago when we landed in Kansas to serve this area in July 2016, we would have never imagined what God was going to do in and through our efforts of the Affiliate serving Leavenworth County. In the loss of the governmental contracts via partnerships on the military installation, we have now started to seek out more direct opportunities to raise funding for our overall budget, which takes time and building integrity locally. Much of our efforts in the area have been spent in building up moments to share with others what Youth For Christ is all about and what God has motivated us to do for our teens all over this area. Many opportunities have included sharing with the Leavenworth Lions Club, Leavenworth and Lansing Kiwanis Clubs and other folks who come visit the locations where we serve our teens on a regular basis. All the while we have been here, we have stressed the idea of longevity of building trust, integrity and care to the people of Leavenworth County and looking to serve teens "wherever they are." Goodness, was God on the move during all of this patient and humble movement!

Our provider, Chris Cakes and our leaders behind the

operation as folks come in and support the event.

The students and leaders helping out during the fundraiser.

This month we were able to have our first-ever fundraiser which specifically was geared to raise support to send our teens to summer camp in late-June. This event included a pancake feed, silent auction and 50-50 raffle to raise some money for those teens who will need help attending camp with us. We worked together with our sister-in-law, who had extensive experience in working on a recent silent auction fundraiser. She was able to reach out and help us in many ways to have many generous gifts provided to the cause. Amy was able to secure a highly successful company to provide basically everything except for the coffee which allowed all of our adults to be free to serve and mingle with folks attending the fundraising event. A major God movement was that all of our leaders and board members were able to come and serve during the entirety of the event and see God's hand in all what was happening in the efforts of that day! Some served in the silent auction area, some were receiving money and greeting people as they arrived in the door, some were selling 50-50 tickets, some were making sure coffee was squared away and some just filled in wherever necessary as was needed throughout the morning. Another big blessing during the event was the personal attendance of our own State Representative, Jeff Pittman and his wife Holly. Before showing up, he chose to announce the event at an earlier meeting he was attending to help get more people to come support the fundraiser. If that wasn't enough, Rep. Pittman then went on his own Facebook page and went 'live' from our fundraiser to encourage folks to come enjoy pancakes for our cause. By the end of the event, we had two of our students, Brandon and James come and serve in the whole fundraiser and they had their summer camp fees all paid for via the generosity of so many amazing people! If that wasn't enough, all of our summer camp fundraising needs were squared away via this whole event! To say this was a success would be an understatement. It was incredible due to the fact that it was not only beneficial to our teens and their camp plans, but for the exposure of the Leavenworth Salvation Army and it's location and what they have been doing for our community.

Rep. Pittman and myself during the 

camp fundraiser together.

As we noted, we have noticed a lot of changes and people's motivation to get involved in many ways we never could have imagined. After the fundraiser, one of our newest leaders shared how they would like their employer to get involved more with Youth For Christ. Before we knew it, we were receiving messages and updates from Regina and her plans for the Lansing Taco John's and what they were planning to do in partnership with us. Join with us as we celebrate our first commercial partner who wishes to see God's movement in reaching more teens!

The spread of silent auction items and the artisan items mentioned are pictured above.

Then, there were other things happening behind the scenes. We had a couple of gifted artisans provide items to our silent auction and were gracious enough to desire to see our teens supported. One was a previous leader we had at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and she has an incredible gift of knitting and crocheting various items. Soon after the silent auction and the success of the selling of her items, she was anxious to get started on a custom quilt so that it can be used to raise even more funding as the quilt has an incredible value and can assist us in a greater way. The other person was our uncle in Iowa who has a gift for creating one of a kind bird feeders, wind chimes and the like from his custom shop at home. One item sold so quickly in our silent auction with multiple bidders and as I shared with our uncle about this item moving fast, he had a baker's dozen of them ready for us in our recent visit back to Iowa. Not only those items were offered, but he loaded up our van with nearly 40+ items to sell to help raise more funding for our budget to impact teens this year.

All the new equipment we were able to buy

from our amazing generous partners all over

the area who gave to the cause.

A snapshot of the current equipment

the teens use during free time outdoors

at Patton Jr. High.

We aren't just on the receiving end of partnerships, but we regularly look to partner with entities who are impacting our teens here. We recently found out that our military youth on Fort Leavenworth at Patton Junior High get to go outdoors and enjoy the nice weather when they have the additional time after eating in the cafeteria. Being that this isn't an official program, their equipment to play outdoors is usually a 'hand-me-down' or extremely used in nature. We immediately saw the need and shared the opportunity and in one day, we had one ministry leader from the Methodist Church in town, a friend of a staff person out of town and a local church plant in the area of Turner in Kansas City, Kansas, join us in supporting the need fully to replace and provide more equipment than imaginable for our military teens to enjoy outside.

Phil and Carlos at the Harrold Youth Center.

Building relationships locally also includes sharing with our friends all over the area what God is up to and that includes our local paper. In serving the Fort Leavenworth Harrold Youth Center, Phil got to mentor and coach the military youth of the year in his interview and speaking skills as he headed onto the state competition level. In doing so, the Leavenworth Lamp newspaper covered the story and got the chance to hear from the young man, Carlos Vega, who expanded on his time with Phil and his help in getting him ready for that next opportunity to compete. Being able to serve him and the youth center was an amazing chance never to be forgotten! Next, while out of town visiting family and partners in Omaha, we were notified that the Leavenworth Times decided to have a front-page full spread on an interview I provided on email to their staff person on the who, what and why of Youth For Christ and what our affiliate was doing to impact teens in Leavenworth County, Kansas. It was a blessing and a true honor to have our local papers cover us in how we are working with our youth and empowering them with a place and space they feel like they have as a home with other teens.

We hope that this is only the beginning of the long-lasting duration of Youth For Christ as we build relationships with other folks and businesses and entities wherever God provides. Please join us in prayer and celebration in all that God is doing in all that He leads us to do to impact our teens in this area.

Humbled to be on His mission for Christ's glory!
~Phil, Amy & Parker

FYI - if you would like to partner with us in any way possible, email us at pparsons@yfcmail.org and we can visit with you about those opportunities.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift contribution toward the mission, you can do it directly on this link here: https://yfc.givingfuel.com/30631

February 2018 Newsletter

February is the month of love. The celebration of Valentine's Day and the events that surround it make folks more open and willing to show their love for people in their inner circle and beyond. It was quoted via the national retail federation that Americans will spend $19.6 billion on showing their love in one way or another celebrating this holiday. Sadly, a majority of the items purchased will end up in landfills or flowers dying off and easily forgotten and moved on toward the next 'thrill' or event. 

One thing we have learned as of late with our teens was something pivotal that was shared with us via multiple pastors' preaching in their sermons about the idea of 'love.' "Love shows up." Love isn't something we feel or is sporadic from within but an action. When we truly act in a way that is contradictory to the norm and choose to shower it upon another person or group of people, that is where love evolves. 

A snapshot of our record 60 teens in the gym on 1 Feb! 

We kicked off the month with our largest-ever group of teens coming out to spend time with us on a Thursday at the Salvation Army gym. After all was said and done, 60 teens had come through the doors to hoop and spend time together! The more we ask our teens about how they hear about our weekly gathering, the more they share and point to a friend stating they were invited or the friend told them about what we were up to in the gym each week. This night alone, easily 18 new teens had shown up to hoop, hang out and get a plate full of food served by our gracious kitchen team. 

A photo of the group during the 'huddle,' where

60 teens crammed in the community room.

An audacious prayer we have had recently has been to expand our reach relationally with our youth outside of Thursday nights. The best part of Thursday is that we get to know many students and hear a little about them while we wait on the sidelines for the next game or whatever is going on. As we offer the weekly 4:13 basketball ministry, we really hope our leaders get to know our students and provide moments to hang out outside of Thursday nights, whether over a meal or a soda or going to one of their games, events or anything at their school in which they participate. The 'launching off point' is always Thursday nights which show the teens we do love them and care for them. Life really begins in ministry when we get the opportunity and trust to spend more time with our teens outside of our regular events because we get to hear more about their passions, challenges and their own stories as they share and are comfortable to do so. 

Let the floodgates roll...

First, it came across while I was attending church mid-month and Danny (name hidden for integrity) hit me up on messenger about some pivotal things happening to him at home. It was deep, rough and he was on an emotional roller coaster. It was apparent I was the one he wanted to share this with because the rawness of his truth was coming out in every comment he made about his situation. Life was getting dirty for him and he needed someone to talk to and share with. Instead of just messaging him, I chose to include him on a weekly trip I take down to the southern part of the county and have him come along and spend time with other students I get to know and work alongside, plus my buddy Howie who is a rockstar youth pastor. Being able to be present and with Danny through all of this has allowed me to hear and care for him in all of this mess, all because we prayed BIG for moments like this that we can step into with our teens. The best part is that Danny has become one of our amazing teens who selflessly serves in any opportunity we have in serving our community. He's helped clean the Salvation Army gym location a number of times along with cleaning up our local youth center as well. I truly am a better man knowing him. 

A group of students hanging out playing PS4 as

an added bonus while they wait to hoop.

Next, it was Jason hitting me up on Instagram messenger about a situation of a pet which had been struggling lately. They were up in arms with his health and worried if it would live any longer. Not too long after our convo about needing prayer, Jason shared about how they had to put the dog down and it was a tragic mess for him and his brother, who both come on Thursdays and hang out with us regularly. Being that I earned the right and trust to share, I got to unpack how recently I had to face something similar in putting our dog down nearly 4 months ago with ailing health. Through the time spent on Thursdays along with multiple service project events, Jason and his brother Larry have been rockstars in anything we need help with on a regular basis. They are always willing to come help out and spend time with us when we offer it outside of Thursdays. Jason recently got the chance to join the younger group of middle school teens when we opened up the gym to them and his leadership of those younger students was impeccable. He really is a leader in his own regard and lives his life well around other teens, no matter what trouble the others might be getting into. 

The front view outside of the

Harrold Youth Center on 

Fort Leavenworth.

Another opportunity of "just showing up" for our youth included continued efforts to serve our youth center on Fort Leavenworth and their ongoing programs. We've mentioned how the staff really enjoys having us come and serve the military teens since we join them and just spend great relational time with them, right where they are. It was with that permission and trust that the staff invited Phil to come join them on a more permanent basis and start mentoring one of their teens in preparation for his competition of 'military youth of the year' opportunity. Specifically, the young man needed help with his speech and interview questions for the next level of competition. It was also offered to Phil that he could start coming up to the youth center regularly during other times and spending time with the youth whenever possible since he had been developing relationships with many of the students who go there. 

Our students in action together playing together.

Lastly, there's other students who have engaged us, sharing how they long to be in the gym as long as it's open because they can't stand being at home due to parental conflict, sibling issues or they just want to be in a place where adults care about them. Add in continued home changes over and over again where parents are given eviction notices and the teens share they moved yet again with a grimace on their face, life just gets ugly for our youth and they are longing for adults to care about what they think. Or it could be the high usage of marijuana of our teens just to numb the pain of what they face from day to day in their own worlds. Again, no matter what the issue might be - our love shows up in all of these moments, no matter how tough on us they might feel. It even includes 'showing up' and attending our students' games and events they participate. We had the chance to go visit our Leavenworth High freshman basketball team compete and see the achievements our teens had been making in playing for the high school squad. It's really an honor to be invited to their places they are passionate about! 

The Leavenworth High School freshman game we got to see.

Truly we thank each and every one of you who have been praying for us as we step into the lives of our teens we meet. We ask that you continue to pray for us and our leader team as it continues and the trenches get deeper when we love these teens in their lives each time they show up. We also ask you join in praying for more adult hands on the team as we are reaching more teens each week and in more places throughout our county. It will take an army of adults and we know that it takes prayer beyond all else. 

We thank you all for your love showing up for us as we shower Christ's love to each of these teens God has provided us to serve. 
~Phil, Amy & Parker 

Amy, Parker and I took a selfie while watching 

our freshman teens play at their b-ball game.

FYI - if you would like to partner with us in any way possible, email us at pparsons@yfcmail.org and we can visit with you about those opportunities

January 2018 Newsletter

When we hear the term “ground zero”, we often associate it with the deadliest terror attack on American soil that occurred on September 11, 2001. Since our country has been at war now for 17 years, families are starting to experience 2 generations of family members serving in the same war. Wow!

The snapshot of Ground Zero in New York City.

Here in Leavenworth County, many of the students we work with attend Leavenworth High School and are a part of the JROTC program. Some of these students have plans to join the military and serve their country. Most of these students were born after 9/11, and have only known a country at war. Some of these students are dependents of military service members, while others will serve as a first-generation service member. Regardless of the area of the call to serve, whether it be the military, ministry, a helping profession such as the healthcare industry, teaching, or any other field where you can serve others, we all start somewhere. That starting point is ground zero.

Long before that fateful day in September of 2001, Merriam-Webster defined the term “ground zero” to mean, “the very beginning”. When it comes to YFC Leavenworth County, the very beginning was in July 2016, when the affiliate was created. Since we’re still in our infancy, there are many areas of ministry that we’re working to get off the ground.

One area in particular is with our volunteers. We can’t offer the different ministries that have launched without quality volunteers that are dedicated to serving and building Christ-sharing relationships with teens throughout the county. As we have been planning and vision casting for 2018, we felt it was important that our volunteers all start from the very beginning. Does that mean they time travel back to the inception of the affiliate in July 2016? Of course not! However, what we have done, is adapt a training class that was shared with us by fellow YFC friends that helps our volunteers start at the very beginning. That class is Ground Zero.

A front view of Patton Junior High on Fort Leavenworth where we are helping where they have need before school and during lunch periods. 

Ground Zero is an hour-long discussion that helps to orientate people that are interested in serving with YFC locally in our area. Throughout this discussion, we touch on who YFC is as a global organization, as well as the mission and vision of YFC here in Leavenworth County.

We discuss the process of the different ministry areas where people can get plugged in by exploring their passions, giftsets, and how we can see God's alignment of their calling to utilize them. The conversation wraps up by getting these interested folks on track to complete the necessary forms and background checks, should they decide that YFCLV is a place they want to serve.

The lunchroom where we help at 

Patton during both lunch periods.

The common area where we help at

Patton Jr. High in the morning.

That being said, we have had the pleasure of sharing a new need throughout our area which pertains to the impact of our teens - financial and life skill readiness. We shared the overall idea throughout social media, personally inviting adults throughout the county to join us in this effort as we build from 'ground zero' and develop it as a class the teens can truly enjoy. It would be developed via a focus group of teens sharing what they'd like to learn and the team of adults unpacking their strengths and where they feel led to pitch in and lead each time they get together with the teens. God's onto something since we have fielded 9 responses from adults who are highly interested in helping this move ahead. WOW! Rather than plow into developing this class, we are taking these interested adults through the initial 'YFC ground zero' information to see if there is an alignment and should they desire to proceed with the group who is committed. This basically allows the movement of this class and ministry opportunity to be fully embraced by the adults who wish to run with the torch and be poured into by our staff. Up to this point, every adult who has said they're 'all in' with moving ahead has specified that every teen would benefit from a class like this and essentially we are providing and filling a need our community and county. It's such a blast!

The front view of the Leavenworth Youth Achievement Center where we will host the ongoing finance/life skills class.

Another area where we have started from 'ground zero' was mentioned in last month's newsletter, specifically on Fort Leavenworth at the Harrold Youth Center. This is one of the 'meccas' of working with military youth on the installation right where they are and getting to know them on their turf. It all started in sharing with them that Phil could help out with their Passport to Manhood class with their only male staff person, Jake. Throughout over the year of relationship and integrity built in serving the folks, Jake specifically invited Phil to come spend more time with their teens on a more regular basis rather than twice a month for Passport classes. We can't make this stuff up. It literally is ALL Jesus and His plans that uncover and provide future plans to work with military teens on the post. Patience has paid huge dividends to His glory!

Our most recent snapshot of the 4:13 B-ball ministry partnership with the Leavenworth Salvation Army in which a

friend of ours joined us who used to play in the NBA developmental league, sharing pointers and hooping with us.

Also, as we look into the future, God has been opening phenomenal doors for us to discern and see

what He's planning for our opportunity to take kids to summer camp. We believe that when we can take our students away to a place where they can truly unplug from their lives back home and their devices and anything else, God really works in those moments. Through much prayer and seeking God's timing on what we are going to do for our teens, it came from an introduction to a gentleman who was serving alongside Phil while he was helping at Lansing Middle School's Challenge Day in the fall of 2017. As soon as the chance happened to get together with Antonio for coffee to hear more about the summer camp he provides not too far from us in Leavenworth, it truly was God's working in connecting

Antonio and his wife Candace who lead

Awaken Camp each summer.

other like-minded Kingdom people. It became apparent that Awaken Camp which Antonio had been blessed to oversee was exactly what God has in store for our Summer 2018. The camp literally works with kids relationally throughout the week spent with them and they highly encourage all the adults present on camp grounds to 'jump right in' with the kids and get to know them and spend time with all the kids, including the ones each leader brings. The final pieces that also provided confirmation of our choice included the incredibly affordable price of $95 per student and the camp would be an hour drive from most teens' homes in our area.

A snapshot of students worshiping together at Awaken Camp last year.

Now that we are seeing God's provision for our camp plans this year, we are now plowing the fields and working with the plans of raising support to see our teens go to camp at an affordable rate. We're praying and hoping to see each student to be able to go for half price or better. With all of these details coming together, we are noticing new things come together to get our teens supported, specifically with a silent auction, 50/50 drawing and a pancake feed to kick of spring in our area. Amy's sister has blessed us in a great way reaching out to businesses on our behalf; we have already received multiple generous donations from a dozen or more businesses who have contributed toward the silent auction and we are awaiting on a couple of the local Kohl's stores in coming to support the event as well, in which the company will support the event financially should at least 5 or more employees help us out. We also are launching our first-ever envelope sponsor campaign, where it has envelopes numbered 1 to 50 and folks choose which envelope they would like and the number of envelope they take is the financial support amount they choose to send to YFC Leavenworth County to support our youth for camp.

These are the envelopes available to support sending teens in our area to camp, each number is a dollar amount in 

which folks can choose to help and partner with us. 

No matter what happens or occurs, we are truly thankful for each of you believing, praying and supporting God's movement on our lives to serve the awesome teens of Leavenworth County. As you all can see, there IS something going on as we are moving swiftly into 2018! We really LOVE hearing from you all as well, so please let us know how we can be praying for you. If you want to know more about anything we are sharing in the letter, please let us know. We are excited with all the new things happening and all the new adults and teens we're getting to meet.

Onward, upward and Kingdom movement for Christ's glory!
~Phil, Amy, & Parker

**To join our team in any way you feel led in prayer, financial partnership, spreading the word and anything in between you can reach us at pparsons@yfcmail.org or contribute online at https://yfc.givingfuel.com/30631**