June 2017 Newsletter

Behind every good ministry, is a great team of amazing volunteers. We recently had the opportunity to launch our first official ministry site as the YFC Leavenworth County Affiliate. Our partnership with the Salvation Army to open their gym and provide a place and a space for teens to simply come hang out and shoot some hoops kicked off on Thursday, June 1,

The ribbon cutting on our 4:13 basketball ministry

partnership at the Salvation Army.

2017. A few dignitaries from the Salvation Army Division Headquarters joined us as well as the mayors of both Lansing and Leavenworth for a brief dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting. It’s great to finally see some fruit from many months’ worth of building relationships in the community come together through this new ministry site. Back in February, when we first started casting a vision for this partnership and a weekly program that would utilize the Salvation Army’s vacant gymnasium, we also started praying about people that would come alongside us to serve at this ministry site.

Al providing us a devotional before our
second week of basketball ministry.

Through our prayers, God orchestrated the pieces that would bring just the right team into our lives. We were introduced to Al and April Prescott. This is a dynamic couple that loves Jesus, and loves to play basketball! We got to know them and a bit about their story and found out that they wanted to get plugged into some type of sports-related ministry. We shared the vision with them, and they were immediately ready to serve. When we met them, they were engaged and would soon be married. The wedding date was set for Thursday, June 1^st—the very night we were set to launch the ministry site and kick things off. Even

Al and April Prescott during the kickoff

as they play basketball with the teens.

though we had been preparing for the launch, we didn’t expect them to be present on the night of kick off since they were going to be saying their “I dos” earlier that day. Wow, were we surprised when they told us that didn’t want to miss it and would certainly be there! Now, that’s dedication! The second week of ministry was Al’s birthday, do you think he took a pass to celebrate his big day with his new wife? Of course not! They were both present and ready to serve the group of teens that came out to play ball. We did manage to sing him Happy Birthday though. We’re so blessed to have this great couple on our team. It’s awesome to see how the students grow through the relationships we build with them, but it’s also amazing to see how our volunteer team grows as well in their relationships with students, their own personal relationships with Christ and their unwavering commitment to serve as a part of this ministry. With all the hoopla of the kick off celebration the first night, we didn’t include any faith component. That allowed us to simply build a bridge to get to know a bit of the student’s stories. On the night of Al’s birthday, he shared a devotional with the teens that came out. We feel God is definitely on the move, even in the infancy of this new ministry.

Floyd (white t-shirt) at center court playing basketball during the

ministry kickoff event with the teens.

If Al and April’s story isn’t enough, we have also been blessed to grow our relationship with Floyd Green. Floyd first crossed Phil’s path when they both served on a jury several years ago. Through getting to know one another, and sharing stories, they learned that they both attended Westside Family Church. Phil was sharing how he was going into full-time ministry with YFC and Floyd wanted to learn how he could come alongside him and help. Floyd has been a long-time ministry partner of ours and has a heart to serve lost and underprivileged teens in the community. He has served as a coach of various sports teams and has 3 sons

that have all been involved in sports. His first passion is playing tennis, but basketball is a close second. He works full-time in the field of Information Technology for a police department and makes a 45-minute commute each way to work every day. If his long work day and commute weren’t enough to make him want to go home, kick his feet up, and just relax, that would seem pretty normal. Instead, on Thursday nights, he drives straight from the office to serve on our team. He changes his clothes, laces up his sneakers, and gets at it on the court, even with his “old arthritic knees”, he says. He loves being able to be a part of something that reaches a group of kids that sometimes feels unreachable. It’s crazy how something as simple as a game of basketball provides an opportunity to build Christ-sharing relationships with kids. As simple as it seems, we couldn’t provide the quality ministry that we’re providing week after week without people like Al, April, Floyd, and the rest of our great volunteer team.

Ministry isn’t just made up of great people that serve on our team, but good ministry also includes good food. It’s amazing the conversation you can have over some tasty cookies and lemonade. Refreshments were provided the night we kicked things off by the team at the Salvation Army. Amy saw that some boys had sat down to enjoy their tasty treats and she grabbed a cookie and sat and joined them. She met Keshawn and Antoine. A

Keshawn (right) with Antoine (left) playing ball on
the night of our 4:13 ministry kickoff.

conversation quickly ignited as her inquisitive spirit began asking questions. She learned that Keshawn will soon be a senior this fall, and helps care for his mother that struggles with chronic health issues. He has hopes to attend college once he graduates, but plans to delay his timeline a bit in order to take care of his mom. He invited his buddy Antoine out to shoot hoops, instead of sitting at home bored. Antoine will be in 10^th grade in the fall and after he’s done with high school, he hopes to join the likes of Lecrae, NF, J’Son and other gospel rappers, by making a living providing good music for people to listen to. Who would have thought that a simple cookie and a listening ear could have provided such an opportunity to learn about these two boys’ stories? We hope to continue building these relationships and many others like them as long as God allows the doors to remain open for this ministry. Our hope is that we will be able to grow and expand from simple sport-related programs to a broader reach, perhaps in the local school districts. We continue to grow and build those relationships with the administration and serve where we can accordingly.

The group together with local dignitaries. (From left, Allison Adragna, April & Al Prescott, Lansing Mayor Mike Smith, Leavenworth Salvation Army's Lt. James Beardsley, Phil, Amy,
Leavenworth Mayor Nancy Bauder, KC Salvation Army Major David Harvey, Floyd Green)

We thank you all for being on mission with us. A heads-up to you all that this will be our final month providing a paper letter. Please email us to continue receiving updates as they will go on the blog here for now on so we are good stewards with what God has provided for us in the ministry.

Continuing praying:

--continued health for Amy and baby boy, Parker Landry, as we’re now on the last half of the pregnancy.

--for the new ministry site with the Salvation Army to continue to grow and thrive, as well as other opportunities to create additional ministry sites in and around Leavenworth County.

--additional ministry partners—specifically, we have been invited to two churches to speak and share the mission and vision of YFC this week, pray as God prepares our hearts and the hearts of people that will be in attendance.

With humble hearts,
~Phil, Amy, soon to be Parker :)

May 2017 Newsletter

First Baptist Church of Leavenworth: their story

Jerry (in grey t-shirt) working with the group one
Tuesday evening during basketball.

Last month, we shared about how we had been spending time with adults and building relational bridges throughout our area and learning about Kingdom impact opportunities already happening to reach the lost teens all around. I’ve been spending a lot of time with our good friends of First Baptist Church of Leavenworth each Tuesday evening when they open their gym to middle school and high school teens since there aren’t many options for them to play in a place that’s safe and available for free. The pastor, Jerry has equipped his son, Carey, to lead the sports ministries from the church’s standpoint and throughout my time showing up and getting to know them, they have allowed me to step in and help out whenever one or the other isn’t available. Part of their need included the issues that came up last semester from competitors getting so angry in competition that they started to threaten other folks and even tried to pick fights. This almost killed the program where folks had to be asked to leave if they couldn’t keep their cool. It all began when I shared with them the vision and mission of Youth For Christ Leavenworth County and there was a big alignment in their

Carey (in black sleeveless tee) with a group of students.

basketball outreach plan. All I cared about was helping if they needed and provide another adult who wanted to keep the space safe for all who came out to play. Eventually, Jerry even asked if I could help provide a message every once in a while. This wasn’t my agenda, but I was and still am humbled to be able to do anything for them on a Tuesday night. That’s Kingdom work. We were paired together to love these teens, regardless of where they’re coming from.

Mark and Dave: their story

During my time spent on Tuesday nights at their gym, I got the opportunity to know and hoop with a few guys who most would say were ‘rough around the edges.’ These guys were exactly what I had been praying for in getting to know and meeting on ‘their turf.’ We'll protect their identity by changing their names in the letter. Mark and Dave are brothers and usually they arrived with an older friend who hooped with them, named Seth. These guys were street ballers for sure. They had the aggressive mentality for basketball, especially in the neighborhood. It was awesome to get onto their team, since I was the odd man out, being the near-40 year old dude with little hair on my head and bad knees. After playing a couple of games with them, I started to encourage them when they would get extremely agitated or would get down about missing a few shots. I also provided a small amount of in-game coaching for the offensive and defensive side of the game, so we could figure out how to play better together. Oddly, I ended up being picked to get onto their team on a regular basis week after week since they saw how I was more of an encourager to them on their team and not much of a shooter but wanted to keep everyone’s head into the game and not lose their cool when things got testy. To say that these guys played to win was a shortfall – they wanted to win at all costs, no matter how dirty the game got, even to the point of almost fighting with one another when passes or shots by the other brother didn’t go well.

Dave playing aggressive defense while
his group plays basketball together.

God must have had some certain plans to open our eyes to what He saw on a regular basis of these high school guys who were coming to play each week. It was when Amy and I chose to partner in helping our dear friends at Unity in the Community one Friday in delivering meals to people in need, which they do each month in the Leavenworth area. It was in one of our final deliveries that as I pulled up to the neighborhood, I noticed we were in the area where Mark and Dave lived. As Amy read the address, I realized – we were going to deliver 9 meals to this family with much need. When I jumped out of the car to get the meals ready out of the back of the car, Dave and his buddies walked over to the car and he noticed me and gave me the usual brotherly handshake of acceptance. “Delivering some food your way tonight, 9 meals, right?” I shared with a huge smile to Dave. I then shared with them we had a bit of extra that evening from a couple no-shows at their homes and threw in 3 extra meals for them when they said they’d enjoy them. Dave carried the meals up as Amy and I walked up to the house to get the necessary signature of receiving the meals and God showed up again that night. We noticed the front door had glass broken out and inside the home was anything and everything covering the carpet. It’d looked like a tornado had gone through the duplex. It rocked my world. It was exactly what we needed to see and understand what the teens in our area were living with day in and day out.

The biggest thing that hit me about our teens in our county: if they are coming to us and they live in anything that looked like what these young men lived in, how or why would they want to hear anything about a God that loved them and us?! If we aren’t willing to jump into their world and really care FOR them and provide a place that is safe for them to get real with us, should they even bother listening about our own story or God’s story?

A panoramic view of the FBC gym during a Tuesday night gathering of students.

YFC Leavenworth County: our story

This shouldn’t have rocked me as hard, but it was a reality check to the need of our teens in this area to KNOW them and where they are coming from before anything else. Another thing has hit me hard lately in preparing to provide training to adults who work with youth is this: the average student in school is talked at or to 60 hours a week if time at home with parents or coaches is included. So often, our students are involved in one-sided conversations. Why then is it that we in ministry feel mad when kids don’t want to come visit or spend time with us?! Our mission is simple: we spend the intentional time listening to their weekly and daily struggles of life in school and outside of it before talking AT or TO them. That’s relationships. That’s what Jesus did and that is what we will do, regardless of what our teens believe.  

One of my snapshots during a Tuesday night
gathering at FBC Leavenworth.

We ask you all to join us in prayer as we launch a new partnership we never imagined before - a basketball ministry outreach with the Leavenworth Salvation Army slated for the start of June. We're hoping to open the gym and reach teens all over the area who want to come hoop and enjoy a place that is inviting and safe for them to compete but also be known. Continue to pray for us as we build relationships all over the county to earn permissions to work alongside military teens and their friends and that God provides opportunities for new partners to come on board in partnering with our local affiliate in providing finances to do even more.

Humbled to get to know their story, hoping to share God's greater story one day,
~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**

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