April 2017 Newsletter

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.

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.

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,

~Phil, Amy & baby Parsons

March 2017 Newsletter

Wait Time Is Not Wasted Time

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the story of Nehemiah and how he went from a cupbearer to the king, to organizing an effort and completing the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. In this current season, in Leavenworth County, as we strive to build up an affiliate to reach military teens throughout the county, we often feel as though we’re playing the waiting game. Although Nehemiah only had to wait about 4 months before he started putting his vision into action, he was busy during that waiting period praying and seeking God’s will for how things would come to fruition, while God was busy at work aligning things behind the scenes. The burden on Nehemiah’s heart was to see Jerusalem restored and rebuilt. We can often times get caught up in the how the vision will get accomplished, so much so, that we lose focus on the what. The burden that remains on our heart here in Leavenworth County, Kansas is to reach the over 14,000 teens, ages 11-19, the majority of which are military teens. Nehemiah wasn’t exactly sure how he would go about ensuring that the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, he left that up to God. In a similar fashion, we’re not sure exactly what the future of military youth ministry will look like exactly here in Leavenworth County, but we do know for sure that the burden remains strong on our hearts and we’re trusting God to continue aligning the pieces as we continue to do what we can on our end here on the ground and believe that God is at work bigtime behind the scenes.

What we’re doing at the ground level

My childhood friend, Chris and I at the YFC
Omaha banquet together.

Like any good construction project, you need the right tools and It’s important that they are in good working order; after all, who ever made a precise cut with a dull saw? Just like Proverbs 27:17 states that just as iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. Amy and I are currently busy getting sharpened. As we have mentioned in previous newsletters, we have had the opportunity to learn a lot from our YFC Omaha counterparts and later this month we will be attending a week-long training in Denver, CO that will help us better
prepare for our new position as we build and direct this affiliate program here in Leavenworth County. Before we can empower and equip others to come alongside us and serve to reach these military teens, we must first be empowered and equipped. We hope that this training we will be attending in a couple weeks, will help bring clarity and sharpen others as we ourselves get sharpened. We have already met with countless youth pastors throughout the county that have a shared vision to reach lost teens. We have met with other community organizations that also have a heart to bring about Kingdom-impact change throughout our county. We meet regularly with them to discuss issues plaguing our community and brainstorm solutions on how we can work together to bring about lasting change. Just like God orchestrated some connections for Nehemiah so he could rebuild Jerusalem, God is busy orchestrating things for us here at the ground level in Leavenworth County through these training opportunities, and collaborating with other like-minded partners.

Amy and I together on the
red carpet at the YFC
Omaha banquet.

            As part of the affiliate, we have an advisory board. They serve to help keep us accountable to the mission and vision, act as a sounding board when it comes to decision making, assist with budget decisions, as well as a host of other duties. We are still working to build our advisory board, comprised of people throughout the community that want to support the work God is doing here. We currently have 4 people serving on our board and we are hoping to add a few more soon. We held our first meeting a couple of weeks ago.

            As we also mentioned before, we’re shifting focus. Sadly, many millennials are either leaving the church in droves, or have never been invited to hear about Jesus and the gift of salvation. Prior to now, the approach we took was to be a ministry that operated out of the on-post chapels of military installations. This approach was limiting in that in only reached teens that were connected to the on-post chapels. It was a, “a come to us” focus. In this new shift of focus, we feel we can have a much greater Kingdom impact, as well as God’s glory magnified as we cast a wider net with a “go to where kids are” focus. Where are the majority of young people, ages 11-19?….in school. We are currently building relationships with school administrators, parent and teacher organizations, extra-curricular activity leadership, and school counselors and simply asking how we can serve them. Whether that means helping out with events, or mopping the floor after an activity, we want them to know that we’re not here to push our agenda, we simply want to serve them with the most basic needs they may have. Our hope is that by building these relationships, one day we will be granted the permissions to provide Campus Life programs in these schools to build relationships with students and share Jesus with them on a weekly basis, either before or after school. Through this approach, we would be able to reach far more military teens. Our reach wouldn’t be limited to only military teens, though, through this approach, we would have the opportunity to reach all students within the school, both military teens and their friends.

Vision Casting

Imagine with me for a moment, what the landscape could look like one day…Currently, our young people are plagued with bullying, struggling with identity, self-esteem, body image, and countless other problems. Military teens struggle with those same issues, compounded by moving all the time, and worrying about their deployed parents. They often have to pick up the slack at home and miss out on simply being a teen due to additional responsibilities. All teens simply want to feel that they belong, are known, and be understood. Could you imagine the change we could see in the canvas of Leavenworth County if we were able to cast this wider net into the school systems, eventually reaching every middle and high school of all 5 school districts within Leavenworth County? We could see problems like bullying decrease, we could see attendance and performance rates increase. We could see homes and families transformed. We could see community involvement increase. Drug and alcohol use, abuse, crime rates, incarceration rates, and so many other negative impacts could decrease as a result of a faith-based presence in the public school system in Leavenworth County. As these teams come together to build relationships through fun and games, food, and fellowship with these students, they will earn the right to speak God’s truth into their lives. Over time, this could lead to church growth throughout the county as we plug families into grow in their newfound or recommitted relationships with Christ. WOW! I don’t know about you, but that gets us fired up and excited for the possibilities God could bring to the landscape of Leavenworth County.

Be praying with us that God will continue to align and orchestrate connections, partnerships, and opportunities, as we seek to fulfill our role in what we believe is His vision for the future of military youth ministry in Leavenworth County. It truly takes an Army to make this happen, no different than Nehemiah recruited lots of people to help him rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We need partners to come alongside us that have that fire and passion to see change come to our area. Please consider joining our team, either through prayer, financial support, or volunteering to serve alongside us.

Amy, Allison and I together during Allison's recent visit to Kansas, enjoying BBQ together!

Celebrate with us as we will be having a second YFC staff join our team here in Kansas. Within the next few weeks, Allison should be here on the ground helping us with the YFC Affiliate serving Leavenworth County. She will be moving from Moreno Valley, California. She has a heart for lost young people and a passion to build relationships with them and share Christ with them by simply living life on life together.

Honored to be on this mission in His vision as we call us to serve in Leavenworth County,

~Phil & Amy

**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**

February 2017 Newsletter

The excavation and land prep continues…

The Omaha YFC offices.

As Amy and I left off from the January letter, God provided opportunities for us to be able to see the ‘how and what’ of where we are headed in leading a YFC Affiliate which will serve Leavenworth County reaching military teens and their friends. In late-January, Amy and I had the pleasure of visiting our fellow friends in Omaha, Nebraska, who are leading a successful YFC Chapter which is seeing an incredible amount of God movement in the past 10+ years. A key point which was included in that development was the addition of a colleague, Brian Hershey, who is in the infancy of developing the military reach within the city of Omaha as part of their strategy. We had heard many things about this chapter, so we reached Brian to see if we could spend some time with the folks in the Omaha YFC and learn some stuff by shadowing them and seeing some ministry in the process.

Inside the Omaha YFC office.

Sadly, before visiting the Omaha location, Amy and I really were struggling on the specifics of what our local Affiliate would be doing throughout Leavenworth County. We did know we were in the infancy stages of preparation and evaluation, but that was about it. Even when we would visit with folks, we weren’t certain how to articulate exactly how God has been calling us to do things to reach these teens and their friends.

Now enter our visit to Omaha YFC. It was one of the most beneficial things we’ve experienced since being in the new position of directing the local Affiliate for the past 7+ months. We observed 3 ministry sites to include a location just east of Omaha on the Iowa side that literally gathered multiple church youth groups that already were coming together and wanted to relationally love on teens for the Kingdom’s sake, thus reaching more of their kids in the community for God’s purpose. This ministry site also worked with both middle and high school on the same night at the local high school with granted permissions which blew our minds of the local community buy-in of the mission and vision of reaching lost teens in their schools.

The Glenwood Campus Life location in the school.

Amy and I showing off the
swag with the Offutt AFB
military teens at Winter Jam.

The next part of our trip included sharing in a collaboration of military teen reach with Brian and his friends at Offutt Air Force Base, in the southeast part of Omaha called Bellevue. They were going to the concert in Iowa called Winter Jam and we were allowed to be part of the event and hang out and spend time with some Omaha military teens. It was really cool to get to meet the director of the youth ministry on Offutt and see his interaction with Brian as a partnership and permission to work alongside military teens. This opened our eyes to some key stakeholders locally in our community whom we could spend time building integrity and putting our hands to work to help them out just like Brian was offering to the on base youth ministry in Omaha.

Amy and I at the West O
Campus Life early.

Slowly moving the following day from our late night at the concert, we got to see one of the star-studded locations out in West Omaha which has been seeing an amazing fruit from obedience and perseverance over the past 6+ years by their staff person in that location. We were told that they have a ‘sixers’ Club which works with anywhere up to 120+ sixth grade students before school! The group we got to observe and see was the other campus life at the middle school which worked with 7^th and 8^th grade students and they had been averaging about 140+ teens before school. The incredible part was that they would meet with these teens at 6:45am at their middle school and hang out until 8:10am! Never say teens won’t show up early because this proved they will – of course for some donuts each week! Although the number of students was incredible, perhaps the biggest takeaway from our visit was how many adults were sold out to show up and pour into these students regularly. There was easily a dozen or more adults assisting the staff in games, sign-in, food, small groups and anything else needed. The community literally was ALL IN.

The incredible West Omaha Campus Life of so many 7th & 8th grade students before school.

Therefore, all this being said…so what? We now have vision. We now see exactly what God has called us to do and how to go about it for reaching military teens and their friends in Leavenworth County. A lot of our current handiwork was being confirmed and affirmed by what was spoken to us by the staff and leadership of the Omaha YFC folks. What will it look like to reach military teens and their friends? “School-based reach, right where they are – Campus Life.” Therefore, we ask you all to pray for us as we continue ahead in paving new paths throughout our area of Leavenworth County, loving on people and spending time with pastors, youth pastors, school folks, military teens and their friends to one day be invited and asked to bring Campus Life to the local middle schools in our area. It will be a long process, but with God, nothing is impossible!

We thank each of you for praying, partnering and believing in the calling to love military teens across Leavenworth County, Kansas!

~Phil & Amy

**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**

January 2017 Newsletter

Recently, Amy and I were going over her daily devotional early in the month and it really captured exactly what we have been facing in Kansas as we look to serve Leavenworth County, as a whole. Specifically, her devotional was based upon God’s call upon Abram to leave his home and go to an unspecified new land. All in this calling, Abram faced many challenges along the way but God was looking for a man who would stay true to God and believe He had his best interests at heart, even through the struggles. Her devotional finished by asking if we are willing to allow God to redirect our steps…and literally if we were willing to just ‘go’ where God called us.

Playing a game together with the group
of teens during the lock-in.

And here we are…in Kansas, Leavenworth County. We find ourselves in a new frontier we never imagined before, being asked to pray, discern and dream about what God would have us doing in reaching every military teen. Amy and I are not completely certain what things will look like being in this area, but we are certain that we’re focused on reaching military teens and their friends, creating a space where they feel like a family and can be exactly whom God has created them to be, plus to explore their own faith journey, wherever that might be.

Instructing the group on a game of shuffle yo' buns!

In building some great opportunities with fellow like-minded Kingdom-building churches in the county, we had the pleasure of meeting up with a great youth pastor named Howie Lucas. He’s got the exact mentality of ‘going where th

Howie (in yellow) preps the group as we
move to another game at the lock-in.

e teens are’ and just showing up and loving them. After assisting his youth ministry on New Year’s Eve for a high school lock-in, we had the pleasure of hearing his pastor preach the next day. Part of his sermon included the famous Vince Lombardi speech about how he held a football up and stated ‘this is a football’ and went on about getting back to basics in running the team. Following up that speech he shared, he held up his Bible and said to the group at church, ‘this is a Bible,’ and I am inviting you all to get back to the basics of reading it daily with me over this year. God was keying in on something yet again – we’re in that same season of getting back to the basics of doing excellent youth ministry to military teens.

Amy and I with our dear friends Steve and Lori,
who we love to spend time together.

If that wasn’t enough of God’s poking me in the side, Amy and I had the pleasure of having a great dinner with dear friends and partners in our ministry along with another couple we mutually knew and got to spend time with that evening. Being in the area awhile now brings on a lot of questions of how ministry has been going and what’s been happening overall and Dick and Judy were also interested in how things have been unfolding for us. I shared how it’s been the toughest 6+ months of ministry we’ve ever encountered. Dick chimed in and shared an awesome picture analogy of the importance of building a home. It takes a lot of time on the lot in site work, preparation, weather holding out for perfect concrete to be poured and so forth. He continued, saying the site work was the longest part of the process of building a home in any circumstance which included a solid foundation to build. Then Dick stated to us – you all have been in the site work preparation these past months. Any great ministry will need the correct amount of time chosen by God to prepare for His perfect plans to unfold.

Doing life well with past students over an infamous
Taco Bell lunch with George (right) and Sam.

Rewind back to the first year in Georgia. It was basic in those first months, as it appears it will be the same here in Leavenworth County. We’ll be paving new roads and making new connections with amazing partners who love to work alongside military teens and their friends and praying for God to bless our dutiful work to expand His reach here. To say that we’re headed ‘back to the basics,’ would be simply perfect to explain. We’re going to carve time out of our schedules to meet and visit churches, pastors and youth pastors all over the county to get to know them on a personal level and how we can encourage and empower them in Kingdom work. Another area includes partnerships throughout the county schools in whatever demeanor that might come about, perhaps it could look like how we blessed the PTO in Hinesville.

Another area of priority will include our prayer and dedication in raising up invitations to folks throughout our area to consider being part of our Affiliate advisory board. These people will essentially desire to see the mission of reaching military teens and their friends all over the county being reached. They will ensure the ship won’t sink and the vision and mission of Youth for Christ will be adhered to in the processes of how we work with our teens and adult leaders.

The new logo of our ministry serving Leavenworth County, Kansas.

So, where does that leave you? Amy and I are asking each of you who read this newsletter to be praying with us, partner with us and dream with us in this new season of doing military youth ministry. We are uncertain on all the details, but so was Abram when he answered God’s call on his life to ‘go.’ We too are in this place where we don’t know it all, but we’re starting to see the dust settle and things unfold in great ways. Finally, although we are in a reset of many things, please know that the calling on our hearts remains the same to impact military teens and their friends for Christ’s glory.

~Phil & Amy

**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**

December 2016 Newsletter

Time. It’s the most precious investment into anyone we encounter. Even Jesus gave folks the time He had, even when in a hurry. He met them where they had a need, whether physical, emotional, relational and especially spiritual. It’s truly the most precious resource we can give to another person. Recently, I came into my favorite place to get coffee and have meetings with folks and planned on getting our December letter finished up to go to print in time. God apparently had other plans to prepare me for this letter in where we’d tell our story to others as of late. A gentleman had overheard my comment of being a missionary to reach military teens at YFC to a friend who is a local attorney whom I knew from my position with the bank before moving away. This guy chose to come and engage me from his own perspective of faith and through the time of over an hour expired, I learned a ton about this guy – his background, his passions, his gift sets, some of his sorrows and some of his dreams. At first, I wasn’t all about this engagement, but then God poked me in the heart, specifically showing me that all we can do for another while here on Earth is give someone our time.

The amazing group of teens we took to Journey Camp in June 2016.

As Amy and I reflect upon the past year, it’s been incredibly life-changing and challenging to say the least. In January, we were still in Georgia, planning the upcoming annual calendar and then preparing the teens of 3^rd ID for our pending move. We chose to face the hard news head-on and finished our season in Georgia excellently, by taking 56 teens to summer camp in North Georgia and watching 9 of them choose to follow Jesus and dedicating that choice by baptism. We prepared our leader team in a manner to take the reins of the ministry mission and run with it when we moved and prayed big that God would show up when we left Georgia.

The giant crew of students in Georgia after an epic color war together!

A wild group together preparing to play laser tag at Fort Stewart before our departure.

Amy and I with our amazing salesperson, David, before he
prayed over our van.

Our dream home ended up selling to a couple from Ft. Bliss, who had never seen it in person before physically! It had been a refuge for so many teens to come hang out, small groups of adults who packed it out on a normal basis and anything in between ranging from a good friend who lived with us for 7 months when he had nowhere to go and a HS teen who we allowed to stay with us after graduation so they could attend summer camp.

The gang of Lansing Campus Life students ready
for a hayride together!

As we’ve reflected on some of the highlights of how we’ve spent some of our time over this past year, we hope that has sparked some reflection for you as well. How are you spending your time? Are you making every moment count toward impact for the Kingdom of God? We have recently been in the market for a new vehicle with 3^rd row seating as we look to expand our family through foster care and adoption. We’ve looked at several dealerships and have been waiting patiently for the right one to come along. While we were visiting family in Iowa for the first time in 2 years, we thought we’d use some of our free time to poke around at a dealership just to see

A huge crowd together for an all-area
dodgeball & costume tournament.

what prices looked like. Wow! We were blown away by the new vehicle we walked away with, but we invested in so much more that day! David, the salesman, greeted us with a joyful smile and we began sharing a bit of our story about what was leading us to have interest in a vehicle with seating for 8. We shared that we are full-time missionaries and work with military teens. We listened to him share a little about his story and how he was also a Christ follower. When he was younger, he also felt called to become a missionary to the Philippines, but instead, his family ended up being his mission field. He shared with us about how he enjoyed leading a men’s Bible Study group and his heart for missionaries. We really enjoyed our time spent with him. He worked diligently with us and the deal for our purchase came together. We’ve never had so much fun with a car salesman before! As we wrapped up the deal and prepared to drive off, we snapped some pictures together with our new friend David, so we could remember him and pray for him accordingly. David then did something that completely floored us; he took the time to pray for us. He offered a humble blessing over our new vehicle. He prayed for our family to continue to grow and for Jesus to impact each and every person we transport through us spending time with them.

The 56 teens and 9 adults together after an epic VIP manhunt night game at camp! 

Finally, we ask you to prayerfully take your time to ask if God is asking you to partner with us in whatever way this looks to you and Him. Please know we are working on our partner development to raise the $1900 per month deficit we lost in the contracting from the Army and are praying that God fills the gap. Because so many amazing people have chosen to partner with us, that has kept us on mission for so long and we are incredibly thankful for those who have. Should you desire to partner with us in whatever way you are led, you may go to this site to join our team: https://yfc.givingfuel.com/30631.

In this Christmas season, we pray that your time is well spent. We couldn’t do what we do, if it weren’t for Jesus coming to earth, living His story, and giving us a story to share with others.

~Phil & Amy Parsons

November 2016 Newsletter

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."

The HS group of girls during their rock climbing day.

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.

The MS girls preparing cookies to enjoy together.

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.

Mr. Clay gives the talk during HS Club one evening.

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.

Caroline on the right with Faith
showing off their pumpkins.

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.

Racing to text in fastest during
a HS game called 'emoji hunt.'

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:

·        Student leadership explosion in each place we’re reaching teens

·        Fall camp fully booked and experiencing “where stories collide” together

·        Adult leadership coming together to expand reaching more teens

Humbly we ask you to pray:

·        For us to find a home to settle fully into the area of Leavenworth County

·        Opportunities to connect and reach more off-post military unchurched teens

·        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

October 2016 Newsletter

Amy and I with SaraBeth and Luke at the
YFC Central States Conference in KC.

"We hope to reach a million lost kids with the Gospel within the next 5 years in America," states the overall Youth for Christ USA strategic plan. It was brought to our attention during our time spent with other YFC brothers and sisters at the Central States Conference in Kansas City at the beginning of October. Amy and I have noticed some incredible moments throughout the time back in Leavenworth County which includes opportunities to build relationships with folks throughout the area which will allow us to 'reach every military teen,' especially those far from God.

Getting a moment for a snapshot with a
great volleyball player, Laney, who we
knew in Georgia, and now in Kansas.

One of these moments included an incredible tour throughout the local Catholic Schools and getting the opportunity to meet teachers, administrators and other vetted adults who love working with middle and high school teens in the private schools in Leavenworth. The big piece of the puzzle was that two students we've worked alongside attend the school and their mother is now the director of marketing and public relations for the local Catholic schools. I personally had the great chance to sit down with their leadership teacher, high school principal and counselor to hear what their needs were along with what our intentions were in the local community. God blew open doors for the relationship to bud even further as Amy and I soon after sat down with their athletic director and hear what he needs most and how we could serve their school in whatever capacity they desire in the current timeline. He shared with us how he needed someone for a line judge in one of his upcoming volleyball contests and I chose to help out immediately.

Another opportunity came from the relationship built from last month's Challenge Day at Lansing Middle School when the momentum at the end of the week's events continued to develop. Multiple adults shared their interest in helping continue the effects on a year-round basis in the school to impact their now-changed teens. Around the first week of this month, the phone call came from the school counselor pertaining to the pending launch of the Challenge Day program on a monthly basis. It wasn't just the phone call to include us into their monthly program, but to hear that there are over a dozen adults in the local community who want to see this impact continue! Every piece of this puzzle has built from the openness and willingness to serve wherever they needed and the counselor asked if we could help compile statistics from the student survey since her time is limited during the week. She even called mid-month to ask if we could provide an ice breaker game since we shared it was something we've done in the past and we'll help in whatever they need anytime.

A great panoramic view of the Lansing 8th Grade football game cheering on students from Challenge Day.

If those two doors opening weren't enough, we had another situation come together as we sat down with folks who we knew and approached us in helping shepherd their teens who gather each week at their 47-acre homestead in the county. Apparently, they had up to 40+ teens showing up each week and they asked us about this early in our arrival in the area and God has allowed us to discern about coming alongside them and raise up adults who want to work with these teens as well. Amy and I gathered with about a dozen of the key teens who had been coming before and we created a focus group of them to give us honest heartfelt feedback of what they enjoyed, would like to improve and what they'd like to see in the future for the weekly group of teens.

As Ecclesiastes 3:1 states: "There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens," and we truly feel that this is part of the season which is connected to our overall strategic plan nation-wide. God has opened doors in incredible ways that we never imagined and we deliberately ask you to pray for us in reaching every military teen in Leavenworth County, wherever God calls us.

Join us in celebration:

• Continued relationships throughout the schools in Leavenworth and Lansing
• Amy and I got an incredible weekend away in Omaha, NE, to spend some great time with family
• The group of teens of the focus group gave unashamed feedback when given the chance to be heard.

Join us in prayer:

• We still are seeking a home locally in the area as housing has been a continual struggle to find something financially workable for our familial needs and ministry hopes.
• In leading the local Leavenworth County Affiliate, we are seeking to partner with people who want to see our teens' lives impacted, for the Kingdom's sake.
• Pray for our challenges in continued seasons of change as we seek to reach teens in every place.

We thank you all for praying with us and being partners in the mission of going to where these teens deserve the love of Christ. 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