March 2014 Newsletter

If anyone visits the Club Beyond website, they may see the famous quote shared to all staff around the world; “An Ecumenical Christian ministry reaching out to every military teen.” Although I believed in the overall idea of the shared feeling of ecumenism, I wasn’t really sure what it really meant or looked like in running Club Beyond on Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. Heck, I wasn’t really sure what the word meant in its entirety. Therefore, this past month, God has opened my eyes to see what it really means in ministry here and I also dug deeper on the meaning of the word itself. Ecumenism is the aim of unity among Christian churches throughout the world. Another answer shared that ecumenism is the movement promoting union between religions.

A great photo of our group of recent students and families,
six represented from Club at confirmation.

Unity – no matter the faith background. Then it started to hit me as I have been diligently sharing with our amazing service men and women all over both locations. I’m hoping to see God’s use of the ministry efforts to reach every teen no matter their faith, whether some, little, none or even unwilling to believe. It’s true and sad to share that most Club Beyond ministry locations get tagged with a label that all of them look a certain way, and are typically Protestant-driven.

Shelby (left) and Cora (right) as they
pose during the events surrounding
Cora's confirmation Mass.

 Speaking of efforts of unity, recently I’ve had the opportunity to work with our fellow Catholic brothers and sisters in the Chapel community since they are seeking to launch a Life Teen high school youth ministry effort on Fort Stewart for the first time. They’ve asked me to come alongside them to see that their launch to reach their students is a success and potentially see a partnership between ministry efforts on the installation. Never before have we had this kind of unity between ministry teams like this in collaboration – typically competition. Continue to pray for the complete volunteer efforts of their ministry as it will be a challenge but God has brought fruit to the harvest in the first meeting of leadership team members. Pray that God aligns more and more to reach a large community of Catholic teenagers on Fort Stewart and the relational ministry in Life Teen catches fire across the installation.

The director of the Red Cross (left) awarding our group the
wonderful contribution in efforts of our pasta dinner for
their 5k the night before. 

It doesn’t end there in our efforts of unity as of late. It came to us as our fundraising team collaborated to seek opportunities to raise money for summer camps since prices were on the rise. One of our highly active parents who is a board member with the Red Cross on Fort Stewart & Hunter and shared they were gearing up for a 5k run at the beginning of March. Thankfully we were able to work with them in putting on a ‘carb load spaghetti dinner’ and registration with packet pick up the night before the race as a fundraiser with their event. Not only were we blessed with a great fundraiser, we were able to join them and help out with the race the next day with 15 people. A good handful of our own youth and adults ran the race too! We decided to also join the Red Cross at both locations in an emergency kit competition between groups for parties to the winning groups provided by Club. It’s phenomenal to see the willingness of our teens to jump in and be part of our community efforts – showing true unity together.

The group of guys who see Club as a refuge and escape the chaos
of real life, no matter what they do or don't believe.

I’d like to leave you all with a story of a young man that I’ve had the great time in getting to know who joined a bunch of guys and played flag football and basketball on a Saturday afternoon. Mike was a guy who had tripped up severely over a hard breakup in his life. It’s brought him to lows he’s never expected and the depression has set in where he has felt he has nobody. I’ve had moments where I have connected with him chatting on Facebook and he opens up knowing that I’m listening to his heart. Mike’s raw and real. His language is very coarse and will turn off most church goers. Regardless, Mike knows I’m interested in what he has to say and what matters to him. He’s a guy that has an insane gift of breakdancing and dancing to music in general. He has a true passion for this ability in his life. However, nothing could get him out of his latest funk. Our invitation to him to come out and join us Saturday was what worked. God infiltrated this opportunity. We played hard and hung out and I got the chance to get everyone to go to Cici’s for pizza in between our football and basketball moments. When it was all said and done, Mike turned to me and said “thanks Mr. Phil for doing this, it’s exactly what I needed and I hope to do it more often.”

The group of guys (with Mike) together on a Saturday where
we 'carved out some time' to live life while competing with
one another. 

I hope to become all things to all men, that by all means I may save some. Some include those who are involved in Life Teen, Red Cross efforts, playing football or basketball on a Saturday or anywhere we can find them in their world. It’s awesome being a chameleon for God’s purpose here. Pray we continue to work toward unity to reach every military teen on Fort Stewart and Hunter. 

February 2014 Newsletter

Many of the students I’ve visited with at Fort Stewart and Hunter share vivid memories left upon their soul by their dads, good and tough. Military teens go through unforeseen images of their dad that regular teenagers don’t usually have pressed upon them. Deployments to war, long field training days and/or weeks in duration, unexpected discharge from service, medically unable to perform their tasks due to injuries from war, PTSD from combat, loss of a fellow battle buddy, continual ‘push’ of responsibility in absence from home – these all frame their image of the man who should closely reflect God Himself.

My dad, brother and I in the years where
we worked hard for the extra 'spending
money' by collecting cans together.

Kickin' it old school with my
dad (sporting those awesome
sideburns) when I was a little baby.

Although I didn’t have to go through all of the strain upon my childhood living as a military teen, recently God brought a similar experience to my life: the phone call of the passing of our earthly father. It came at the hand of my brother’s call to me at 10:45 on a Thursday morning. William “Bill” J. Parsons had passed away in his sleep on January 23, 2014. Numb. Disbelief. Out of body feeling. He had just been in Georgia visiting me with mom 9 days prior to his passing. Next the thoughts in my mind focused on what kind of legacy would be left behind in his wake. What would be said about my dad and the impact he made?

 

In the whirlwind turnaround time to get back home to help the family, I had the chance to really see the impact my father made. In his visitation, numerous people came up to my brother and I as we received their heartfelt thoughts about our dad and what he meant to them. The kind of people who came to show their love weren’t just the customers and family members who knew my dad, but they were past teachers, close family friends from our childhood and church family in Omaha, past Scoutmasters and Boy Scout leaders, a high school principal now politician and best friends whom we were close to in our time in Omaha. As I stood there, I was astounded on the number of lives that were really affected by my dad. People continued to come by the waves and it showed me the first thing that rang true: dad cared about people.  

With my dad and mom on Jekyll Island where Amy and I will
be married this coming July 4.

God brought me so many values in my daddy that I’m so proud of knowing and being passed upon into my own life. I was blessed to learn so many things from dad: mowing the lawn as a little boy as I held the lower bar of our Lawn Boy mower, riding on dad’s motorcycle around the neighborhood, taking care of the home with weekly chores, the value of hard work and taking pride in doing it well, business sense and savvy, financial wisdom and expertise and wonderfully caring for those less fortunate than ourselves. It was then at my childhood home that it hit me: dad cared about people so much that he was relentless in his giving to others and their needs.

My folks and I as we were enjoying a lunch together at a
favorite spot of dad's when they visited my home in Kansas.

I shared how I had the pleasure of my parents visiting Georgia prior to my father’s passing. Dad got to visit and see all of the families, students and leaders who God has put into my path along the way. Dad got to meet Jacob and Devon, two boys God has allowed me to share life with fully in my time. It was awesome when I took him to the place where I will marry my dear fiancée Amy Christine Parker on the 4^th of July this year. He got to see a live sand dollar for the first time in his life when we visited there. While staying at my home in his visit, we played Spades, Clue and enjoyed a good burger in town along with some local seafood along the way. It never hit me until now that my dad’s final words to me in person at the Jacksonville airport were, “I’m proud of what you’re doing here, Phil.”

It wasn’t expected that my father would pass away so sudden. God knows best for our lives, although in the midst of pain I couldn’t imagine why He would do this to us. I then began to reflect upon the state of my earthly father. He was tired, in agony from pain in his body, fully on oxygen and hoped to have more surgeries to help his pain. God called my daddy home to relieve him of his earthly pains and struggles. I have peace knowing that my father’s legacy lives within me and my family. Dad passed on some amazing things to us in our time together during the events leading to his funeral and to that I find amazing joy and smile.

This was something that hung in my daddy's bathroom as a reminder
of how much he meant to me which I made in kindergarten. 

There’s no doubt I’m going to mourn and grieve my dad’s passing which caught us off guard. I find another kind of peace knowing that Jacob can become a teacher to me in grieving the passing of dad, just as he has in the past year and a half. It’s amazing how God can use events like these to bring us closer to the calling we have upon our hearts. Come alongside me, please and pray that God remains true throughout this time and that I see how this event can be one where I can identify with our military teens’ lives and experiences.

Honored to pass on my father’s legacy to love those less fortunate than myself and care for people all over Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield!

January 2014 Newsletter

Influence. 

We all have it, whether we want to accept it or not. People are drawn to us, no matter their age. A dear friend from the ministry shared with me that it’s not good to ‘play favorites’ in youth ministry but God places students in our path for a reason. Prior to my arrival in Georgia, I had two students who God placed in my path and I poured into their lives for a year and discipled directly. 

Jacob and I with our friend Paidan (right in pink)
horsing around during the 2013 Fort Stewart Guys
Marathon Day. Much love here between us.

For quite some time, I continued to wonder what student or students God would provide for me to come alongside and spend life with. It didn’t take long and soon after our back to school lock-in event in 2012, Jacob came up to me and said “Mr. Phil, can we talk about a few things?” In his sharing with me, Jacob went deep quickly sharing with me what he had endured in the recent months. He had recently been recovering and healing from the passing of his father months before. After talking further, God started to show off to me, providing me with insight that Jacob was living a similar life I did in high school. The similarities were unreal – he participated in the same sports (track and football) as I did, played the same positions in football, wore the same jersey number, he had the near exact height and weight as I did when I was in high school.

It didn’t take long for the alignment to appear with why Jacob reached me during that lock-in event. He and I quickly became friends and hung out often. I would spend time with his group of ‘bros’ when they would go bowling, hang out playing board games at my place, enjoy bacon early ahead of school and talk about God or just about anything else that was going on in his life. Often when we’d be hanging out and in public and he’d see someone, he would introduce me to others as his ‘mentor.’ It shook me how quickly God placed Jacob and I together and in such a perfect way.

Jacob and I at his football awards banquet in his senior year season.

Jacob continued to grow in his personal life along with his faith throughout his junior year, bringing his friends and other acquaintances to our planned events, whether paintball, flag football or special Club event on Fort Stewart. Although he was growing, Jacob was going through the healing process in his life with the absence of his father. When he went to summer camp, I saw God’s hand continue to move in his life. God broke through the barriers of the normal day-to-day routine and clutter of technology being connected back home. Jacob experienced God through a mutual friend and colleague of mine at camp – pieces were starting to come together for him. Healing continued and growth for Jacob blossomed in his time at summer camp and continued throughout his senior year.

Jacob’s senior year has provided many challenges for him already, with a majority of the ‘bros’ going off to college or career fields since they graduated the year before or the challenge of not knowing if he’d be able to play football in the fall with his unrelenting injuries and not having a doctor’s clearance to play. After going through only about half of the summer workouts and not beginning the season with the rest of the team, Jacob surrendered his heart to know he was finished with football in his senior year. He didn’t even dress the first game, but assisted the team with whatever necessary from the sidelines. Defeat and agony don’t even explain in enough detail how this impacted Jacob. Shortly after the first game of the season, he had his appointment with the doctor and he had been cleared to play. Not only did Jacob play the rest of the season but right after the second half of the second game, this young man was back to his starting position on the offensive line for Liberty County. To overcome this feat is unreal. Jacob’s body has gone through more physical strain and duress than any other teenager I have ever met. His shoulders, knees, hips and ankles all have taken quite the toll already to where he was braced up for games so that he wouldn’t sustain more injury in the season.  

The football banner which Jacob's mother chose
to add me as a list of loved ones supporting him
in his senior year.

Jacob’s team ended the season headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2009, something they all had marked on their list of hopes and desires. Personally, I saw a young man perform better in his senior year than ever expected – even better than his junior year. Accomplishing the feats and doubts of his peers, family and doctors was nothing short of a true miracle. More peers and loved ones came out to show support for Jacob than ever before throughout the season. What blew me away more than anything else was how his family saw me as part of their extended family. His mother made the choice to include me on Jacob’s senior year banner which is hung on the fence outside of the stadium for all to see as people come and watch games.

Jacob’s determination and leadership on the field resonates off the field now that the season is over. He is leading other students that I never expected when I met him in 2012. He’s coming alongside peers who don’t have much of a belief at all and I am blessed to share with him how to love them ‘right where they are’ in their lives. To say that I’m excited to see how the spring 2014 semester will come together for Jacob doesn’t do justice. He’s headed to college after high school and I’m thankful to be alongside him for the ride as he will write scholarship applications and ask for recommendations from adult peers.

Jacob with his mom and brother at senior night in the last
home game during the regular season.

As Jacob’s life moves forward, please pray how God can use not only myself but all of the leadership team members at both Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield to be an influence to our military teens. It isn’t coincidence Christ has allowed me to infiltrate and be a vessel of His presence to Jacob in the time we’ve had together. Thank you, so humbly for partnering with the call on my life to gravitate toward students like Jacob.

Prayer requests:
- That all of our leadership team continues to be an ‘influence’ to the students God gives us in His time.
- That we prepare well for the upcoming semester and align to God’s plan to reach our teens right where they are.
- The pieces of upcoming retreats and summer camps come together as God has in store and we lean into those plans.

December 2013 Newsletter

From Guys Marathon Day...

A glimpse back at the group of guys enjoying their huge steaks who came
to play hard all day during the guys marathon day at Fort Stewart.

Sweat, competition, ongoing flag football games, the longest football throw contest, lunch with Gordon Ramsay’s special recipe gourmet burgers and finishing the day with the perfectly marinated 1+ pound sirloin steaks all allowed our young men to be truly themselves and get to know other students and leaders in the 12 hour day known as Guys Marathon Day. The day was put together with a few ideas in mind – building community and camaraderie together as young men and competing well throughout the day. Although they were exhausted to the point where some took multiple days to recover, the memories and discussions continue and lead us to what I recently experienced with our high school guys. Although we’re in December, if it weren’t for the amazing God-inspired outreach produced in our Guys Marathon Day back in September at Fort Stewart, the relationships  that have continued  wouldn’t ever had happened.

…to camping in the woods. 

Holbrook Campground is a place which I find rest in God in so many ways, whether the peace of His creation, through a campfire made and the smell it creates or the solitude of silence away from the busyness of my home in town. In our recent journey out to the campground, I had the pleasure to observe and experience time with a small group of high school guys who were ready to enjoy some time and awesomeness together. Eager anticipation for the event might have been built up when I shared I would take care of getting tons of food for these always hungry young men. Whatever it takes!

As we were settling into our location, I found out that two of our guys had never camped  in their life. Let alone the antics of the rest of the guys trying to spook them, the basics of cutting wood, setting up a tent, building a fire and cooking over it were mostly foreign to our guys. The majority of the guys hadn’t ever swung one before either.   Luckily one of our boys brought an axe to the campout. It wasn’t long before the testosterone and fierce competition broke out with our guys on who was the best at chopping up the huge logs for our fire that evening. By the end of the evening, it was nearly a dogfight of whom was next to get the axe – even to the point where the camp master had to come by and remind us of quiet hours had started 1.5 hours earlier!  Let me share with you about three of these guys.

Austing showing his 'swole self' carrying a
huge log on his own for our campfire.

Austin, who is a junior and respected among his peers, decided to attend the campout only a day after having his wisdom teeth pulled. Austin was one of those young men who couldn’t put down the axe for the majority of the night. He was always willing to go out into the woods with a group of guys to gather up the largest pieces of wood to be chopped for the fire – sometimes carrying it on his own! It isn’t uncommon for normal activity to affect someone from having a procedure like that done, but this young man could care less. He was all in for the competition and fellowship together with the guys. This opened the door for Austin to share his own personal story with all of us and how he had broken his own purity with girls. He even went further to share how he has grown up with a father who had been Mormon most of his life but recently had heard his father share he didn’t believe God existed and his mother was a Baptist which essentially has pushed him into not knowing if and what he believes today.

Paidan and I goofing around
after a long day of hard
competition together.

Another junior from the same school, Paidan, chose to hang out with us and even stay the night for his first time camping in his life. It’s amazing to provide an experience as basic as camping to these young men who haven’t experienced something in God’s landscape before. Up to this point, Paidan had been hanging out at Club and getting his feel of where he fits into this group. Our Leadership Team could tell he was used to being the “ladies’ man” wherever he went. He has continued to attend whatever event we put together for our students to get out of the house and be themselves with one another. It didn’t take long for Paidan to break out with some heartache with the guys once the fire was lit. I personally read it all over him. He was frustrated and needed to share some stuff. When first offered to take out some pent up issues with the axe, he declined. Soon it wasn’t long until we all saw Paidan valiantly (valiantly, is that the word you meant?) swinging at the firewood to let it all go. It’s such a blessing to see something so basic which can be used to become a therapeutic tool for comfort in rough times.

As soon as he heard there was a basketball court,
John was seen making an epic layup at summer camp.

John is a guy who chose to come camping after I personally reached out to him on Facebook. He rushed to reach his folks and with a great blessing of a student picking him up, met us at the campground. It didn’t take long for John to adjust to his first time camping as well. John feels validated through his amazing ability of athleticism on the basketball court – sadly though he has high doubts of his own talents. To be able to see this young man also chop firewood with the axe was awesome. John has continued to grow since participating with our group at summer camp this past summer. His hunger to come out and serve us during middle school Club has been amazing and its apparent God has struck something deep in his core.

What really rocked my world was how raw and real our young men got with me in front of our campfire that evening. They were willing to tell who they were, what they were all about and even shared about their unbelief in faith with us. Truthfully, it still scares me a bit how much they could care less about believing in anything. I wonder if they’ll feel that God’s call on their lives to live for Him will take root within their lives or not. I see that we are now reaching the lost military teens more than ever before on Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield.

I amazed at God’s mosaic coming together over a year-long intentionally planned program in our ministry. We have a special calling in military youth ministry – to truly seek those teens whom are lost whether emotionally or spiritually in the chaos of their ongoing lives. If it weren’t for obedience to the call to build relationships with one another and come alongside them just as they are, trust would not have been built.

So, please join me in prayer for these young men as well as all of our teens we are reaching and those we haven’t even met yet. Also, pray about coming alongside me as a financial partner in this mission, since the past year has been a bit of a tough one with some people coming out of season in their giving. Would you consider coming on board for $30 per month?

In this Christmas season, truly I’m thankful for this mission and calling as God continues to direct my steps.

November 2013 Newsletter

“God is going to sweep the world with His saints.”

These are impactful words shared and spoken by Oswald Chambers in his famous devotional which I read each morning and evening. He’s referencing the famous verse in Romans 8:28, “all things work together for good to them that love God.” God has been sweeping the world one person and one military youth at a time between Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. It’s a pleasure to share some of these God sweeping stories with you.

The Hunter Club Beyond group together as we're awarded our amazing
gift from the Savannah Priory of St. Vincent, Knights Templar.

Most recently, one of God’s saints showed up in an enormous way in connecting with me pertaining to a financial contribution to the ministry at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. This gentleman shared with me how his organization (Priory of St. Vincent, Knights Templar) would discuss it over and vote on what ministry they would choose and let me know later in the fall, and low and behold, they chose Club Beyond! Not only did they chose us, but we were a benefactor of such a large contribution that it will provide largely for our middle school and high school summer camp efforts already underway. It is through amazing strategic partnerships like these that unfold where God shows up in the mightiest ways to see His plans come together. God knows that one of my areas of continual concern include finances and how we’re able to fund our student ministry with limits being put on giving, and God showed up sweeping our world with His saints in this amazing gift..

A snapshot of all of the wonderful lady leaders with our
teenagers during Girl's Day!

More of God’s saints include a group of ladies who poured numerous hours into an epic Girl’s Day event at Fort Stewart from 10am to 9pm. They intentionally planned the day to focus on the theme of ‘treasure’ and how each girl is one of God’s treasures in His eyes. I personally have never seen anything more dedicatedly planned for our students until now. Beginning the day with getting all ‘prettied up’ together then transitioning to personal letters written to themselves along with a love letter from God to take home and then finishing the day with a celebrated neon glow stick dance party together, this group of dedicated women truly blessed our teenage girls throughout this special day. It was apparent by the end of this day, each of these teenage girls felt like they were God’s treasure. Never before I have seen a group of ladies lay down differences to make such an impact on our students like this in an all-out full day effort. These saints truly swept my world. 

If those stories aren’t enough, God chose to show off to the highest limit. It was a typical Friday afternoon lunch with my dear friend and fellow leader, Walter. I was beyond myself and caught for a loss of words, at least 5 minutes or so. It was then that I knew God was showing off huge with the people I am connected here. I got to spend 5 days with the love of my life when originally we both thought we’d not see one another for a 6 month period at Christmas time.

Amy and I with our dog, Neicy, while spending time together
at Holbrook Campground one cool afternoon. 

We started to share about what had been happening with our week when all the sudden his wife, Cathy showed up at lunch with us. I really didn’t think much of this since she’s joined us times before. It was then seconds later around the corner that my fiancée showed up from 1,060 miles away in person to surprise me for my birthday coming up in the next week.

Oswald Chambers was correct in his statement that truly God will sweep this world with His saints. Interestingly enough it is the world I view all the time and apparently God wanted to show off some throughout the month in His timeline.

Thank you for joining me in this mission so we can become God’s saints sweeping military students’ worlds that can be so chaotic with upcoming finals, Christmas season during deployments and even upcoming new seasons of change from moves of friends or their own lives. We are thankful for you and your belief in this calling to reach our military teens in Georgia. 

October 2013 Newsletter

Christian (#8) with his lacrosse team after a
phenomenal win last season in Savannah.

Christian is one of our longest-tenured students to attend Club Beyond at Hunter Army Airfield and continues to attend this year as the only high school student to date. He attended summer camp with our epic group of students this past summer and it’s apparent – he believes in the continued community we offer together each week at Club. As we finished up our competitive, sweat-induced guys marathon day at Hunter, it was noticed by not only me but my buddy who attended that Christian was a leader. All of the boys that day were 6^th graders, except for him, and it was obvious. He comes weekly to Club, ready to play whatever game we get together to start – typically KanJam or Spikeball, both games he loved and played at summer camp. He’s always willing to jump on a team with a new guy to show them the ropes on how to play all the while never being selfish and remaining humble. It’s because of games like those, experiences at summer camp and events throughout the year like the guys marathon day that grow the relationship that continues with students like Christian. We get to know their passions – Christian’s passion is specifically in the high speed game of lacrosse. Rather than just know him each week from coming to Club, I have seen him compete and play in this game and it’s phenomenal.

A large mass of our high school students gathered outside
before kicking off Club one evening this month.
The group's exploded in size! 

In splitting our ages for middle and high school groups, we have been amazingly blessed beyond anything we can imagine. Our ‘core groups’ are now at least 25+ strong in middle school and near 30+ strong in high school. With so many things competing for their time on an ongoing basis such as sports, homework, extracurricular clubs, family, jobs, and anything else we can throw in – it’s unreal to see so many students in our high school group committed to attending each Wednesday night. After visiting with our leadership team about this topic specifically, we all figured something out: these kids want something ‘real.’ They want to get out of their routine at home and spend time with friends and adults where they aren’t judged and truly can be themselves and not put on another ‘mask’ like they normally will do wherever they go. It isn’t uncommon to see our high school group attendance to eclipse the middle school number weekly, which proves these thoughts correct. True relationships.

If that isn’t enough for bragging on what God has been doing here as of late, we’re preparing for our annual Halloween alternative event with our Chapel communities, the Fall Festival. Last year we were able to provide plenty of assistance to the event, however, God had more in store here this year. As of the latest count we have over 40 students signed up to help us out and bless our community in reaching out and caring for the families. It’s such a blessing to get to see so many students ready to jump and show their willingness to help out on an event that does so much for our community.

Cathy sharing with our students the importance of being 'poured into'
by God on our Sabbath so we can 'pour into others' throughout our week.

It all comes back to real life being lived with the youth. There are going to be leaders in the fray at the Fall Festival developing relationships with our youth who know how to have a good time but also care for them in the same breath of air. No matter their age or where they are coming from, our military teens want to know someone cares for them. They want to know that we’re there not just for the weekly “Club,” but for things they are interested in doing. It’s because of a blessed leadership team taking time out of their hectic and insane schedules to spend moments of time with these teens whose parents and/or family deployed at war or have just been told they’re moving – yet again.

We’re teaching our teens this fall semester about how God instilled the Ten Commandments to Moses and the people not as a list of rules, but a way of relationship with Him and His people. I am honored to have people surrounding us as we show the real way of relating to our teens and how God expects us to relate back to Him as He has called us.

September 2013 Newsletter

When I arrived 15 short months ago, I only had one leader on the ground at Fort Stewart. He was new to the ministry but had a heart which was passionate toward reaching our students whenever and wherever we could.

A great glimpse of the leadership team we have on the ground gathered together.

Now, I sit at Fort Stewart with nearly 20 active adults on our leadership team only 15 brief months after my initial arrival here in Georgia. People are invigorated to be part of a leadership team and see us reach more students all over the installation. Included in our team are rejuvenated adults coming back from an impactful year and ready to expand even further with our ever-growing student population.

Personally, I feel the biggest area that has brought the most joy to my heart has been the area of spiritual hunger within our leadership team. I felt led to offer a ‘small group’ for ongoing growth for our leaders’ faiths and for us to pray and lift one another up on a regular basis. When I made the suggestion at our leadership meeting, an astounding number of leaders raised their hands showing desire for this opportunity. Then God showed up even bigger. We had 12 adults show up for our first small group. Stories and heartfelt prayer requests were shared within the group and true relational ministry was lived in that evening.

Let’s take a look inside our leadership team and see a few highlights which follow, and one will see how selfless they really are. One pair are a husband and wife team where the husband, Walter, is continually swamped at work in his high-demand job and is assisting wherever necessary with our Chapel Next community as well as a motorcycle ministry dear to his own heart. The wife of this dynamic duo, Cathy, is the current Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) president which is an ever-expanding women’s ministry of the Chapel and keeps her on her toes all the time. If that’s not busy enough, this husband and wife team has 2 young boys whom they adore and they reside about 25 minutes outside of Fort Stewart and endure the commute for God’s call on their lives to serve.

A picture of Jason, although stoic in this picture, he's a
greatguy and our guy students love hanging out with him.

Another leader, Jason, is relatively new to the ministry leadership team, but his passion and his desire to help out outweighs anything. We were initially introduced when he was willing to give us a hand during the Easter breakfast that our students were involved in. As of late, Jason and his wife have joined us in our small group on Mondays and have taken an interest in getting back into their faith and leading their children in that way and then allowing Jason to be filled so he can ‘pour into our youth’ in God’s way. Quoting his wife specifically of the impact of Club on her husband’s life was “Jason has become a better father at home and he has more patience with our own boys now that he has been working with the youth at Club Beyond.”

Finally, we’ve had a fresh couple of faces in another married couple, Mark and Heather. This couple comes with the experience of Heather being a former Club kid from her time spent living in Europe. She specifically remembers what she loved the most about Club Beyond and wanted to see the same for their daughter. They jumped right into things immediately to help out plus they also wanted to assist us in getting our first-ever fundraising committee launched. Mark and Heather too have made the choice to further their own growth in their faith together in joining the Monday night small group, investing in themselves so that they have a great foundation when they are working with the students.

A fun photo of our newest leaders
Mark and Heather.

If it weren’t due to the amazing generosity of so many leaders like those who have come alongside us at Fort Stewart, we wouldn’t have the amazing expansion that we have had over the time here. Our focus this semester is upon the Ten Commandments and how we can show our students the idea that God isn’t just about rules, but He is all about relationship. It’s true that I have been blessed with not just people who come each week to help out, but I am blessed to know each of them and their story. Truly living the idea of loving others more than myself in relational authentic ministry – exactly what we do with our teenagers regularly in this mission.

Honored and humbled to get to work on Christ’s mission here in effort to reach every military teen.

Prayer Requests:

1.       For each member of our leadership team to grow in their own personal walk with Christ, so they can pour into our students.

2.       Our upcoming ‘guys marathon days’ as outreach events, and many are reached!

3.       For the expansion of our ‘beyond club’ small groups to be offered to each age group.