Comment and Win! Christmas Give-away
In the last week we had our last YL club (Christmas club), an all area WL club (Elf club), and our area leadership party (Class Sweater Night)… And now is one of the best times of the year to catch our breath from the busyness of YL!
I have some exciting things to share around the first of the year, but in the spirit of Christmas I wanted to give some stuff away! I have five gift packages that I will give away. Here are the details:
1. I have five gift packages to give away (nothing fancy, but everyone likes to win something, I know I do!)
2. The way to win is to comment on this post on the blog (if reading via email/FB/Twitter, go to ylhelp.com).
3. I will choose five winners at random (I’ll use a random number generator based on the number of comments, but only for real comments… I know some YL peeps are smart and might just put their name on here like 100 times ha!). I will contact the winners via email.
4. The deadline will be all the comments by the end of the day on Dec. 25th. So think of it as a Christmas gift from YLHelp!
5. Please answer this question to enter: “How have you seen Christ this semester?” AND/OR “What is one thing you learned this semester that might help others in YL?” Either one is fine.
Enjoy! I hope lots of people enter, if no one does, then someone out there put 5 entries in yourself and I’ll send you all 5 gift packages!
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working through my first semester of leading i learned how to handle stress by turning to christ in tough times. i got to see god work miracles in the lives of high schoolers and he really showed me what wonders he can do when you simply lean on him and let his spirit move you. god is great!
Wow this semester.. This is my first semester leading after a year and a half waiting process. Its been amazing. I absolutely love leading. It definitely has been a blessing. God just works through my team and guys for sure. My team just got 3 new leaders including myself and we 8 just get along so well and work together even though we are so different. Then my guys are so open and honest with their lives and heart. God has definitely worked through us and my guys. One thing I’ve learned and come to love is LOVE. It works and blesses each person because God is LOVE. It has changed my life and
the way i view people. The ability to use Love and give Love will always show itself. People can tell when you are genuine and when youre fake. Remember that!
What a great idea – after being an AD for YL overseas and coming back to the US, I found it hard to just become a part-time YL worker… and a volunteer in the local area – but I’m seeing Christ in this one girl that has just started to come to YL. She grew up in a super urban setting. She seems to know God – but there are some things that are off about her that concerns me – such as being almost engaged at the young age of 17. I know that God is drawing her to YL for a reason – because of Jesus, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen that pull. It’s refreshing and exciting. I’m also blessed to be able to keep in touch with all those I left recently – God’s still working in all those students’ lives. Thanks for the opportunity to share this and give thanks for God’s working in my 2012!
How have I seen Christ this semester? All over the place. After becoming a leader a little under a year ago, I just took over senior leadership of a club with no other leaders. I’ve seen Christ in my two junior leaders who have worked SO hard to see our club succeed for Him. I’ve seen Christ in my weaknesses as a new leader. I’ve seen Christ fill in the voids due to the absence of other leaders. But our club was amazing this year simply (and only) because of Christ!!
The biggest thing I’ve learned is rest and pace yourself. I’ve been a volunteer leader for 4 years and have loved every second of it, but this year, I’ve felt weary and tired. I’m learning how to physically rest and also spiritually to rest in Jesus. I want kids to know Jesus and the life He gives that is so much better than anything they could find in this world. I tend to be a fixer, but I’m learning to rest and wait and let Jesus carry heavy burdens instead of trying to fix them myself.
we have a “life group” going at a local college and for the first time I feel like we’re being intentional about training leaders on all aspects of Young Life and walking with these students in their faith as freshman in college. It’s so hard not to simply throw them on a team when there are needs at nearby schools. But, but investing in 4 guys, our group has grown to 9… I know them well, they know me well, they know YL well, they are very excited to jump in… and we’ll return at the beginning of next semester with a few weeks of “leader shadowing”. For the first time in a long time I feel like we’ll have incoming leaders who wont be trained solely trial by fire. It’s interesting because a semester of training and shadowing is how I came on board as a leader 10 years ago. Glad I’ve finally figured out that it works
One thing this semester that has helped me in my walk with Christ is Michael Havercamp’s blog- http://ylcatholic.blogspot.com/ You should all check it out!
Our clubs were very different this semester. We have grown from about 40 kids to about 90-95 and the clubs talks have been the best ever. All the leaders were very intentional and the kids were really leaning in. We decided to try a Real Life club. We borrowed spot lights, picked out songs, used movie clips, had a video of our campaigner kids and leaders not sharing stories doing card board testimonies, and had 4 leaders and a senior share their stories. We did it after the cross talk at the end of the semester. It summed up all we had talked about this semester and touched kids where they were at. We had 120 kids come! We had parents and committee bring in snacks to encourage kids to hang out after club and visit. It was their favorite club of the semester. We debated whether to save that experience for camp but when you have kids leaning in and soaking up we really felt like we wanted to be wide open for kids and it worked!
What is one thing you learned this semester that might help others in YL? One of the important lessons I learned is that it is hard work to lead a Young Life club, but it is an incredibly honor and privilege to proclaim the Gospel to teenagers. It is tiring, but it should be! It is work! The joy of telling the story again and again is our strength. Keep going, fellow leader! It is worth it… until every kid has heard.
I was just talking to another leader about this a few minutes ago… It has been amazing to see God work through our seniors this year. We have a very small class but they have taken a lot of ownership of club this year. Through this, God has been working in their hearts. They definitely aren’t all “solid” followers of Christ, but God is doing something in them for sure! It has been very fun doing this alongside them this past semester. It’s the smalled senior class we’ve had in the past 4 years but its the class that has taken ownership most seriously!
I have seen God moving in countless ways this year on our college campus. One of the most rewarding parts is watching students who attend college club getting involved and getting trained to lead at the high school or middle school level!
This semester has been a wee bit crazy, but in a good way. I have seen God moving in the fellowship I have here on OSU’s campus with the dozens of other yl houses I now live within two blocks of. It has been amazing! I have been leading for almost a year now and God has just been working through my team to reach the kids at Northland high school. I lead urban yl, which has proven to have it’s own unique challenges but God has shown me that he can work though sinners like us to reach ANY kid. And we get to grow closer to Him in the process!
I’ve been learning to make space and time in my calendar-time for God and others. Tough times in ministry come- like this semester when I’ve attended 2 funerals that have been connected to kids and leaders in YL. If I was too busy “doing” ministry to stop and really allow God to minister to me and through me then I’m not effective.
I became the AD in an area that would be classified as a “rebuild”. I was worried rebuilding this area would be like trying to start a car that won’t turn over or giving life paddles to someone. Instead, it has been like watching sprouts come up from the ground. Seeds have been planted over the past 60plus years and people have been coming out of the wood work!! God has been working for so long in this community and I just get to watch him do His thing, providing leaders, restarting ministries, seeing adults be re-energized. He is so good and He is on the move in ALL our communities, we just don’t always see it.
How have I seen Christ working in Younglife? Well YL has always been pretty solid at my school but this previous year our large solid group of senior leaders graduated leaving me as about the only senior this year being a high school leader. i was definitely terrified of going at it alone because I always had my best friends there with me helping me out. By God and only God I got put in a bunch of classes with some sophomores, we got them to YL and then to fall weekend and now were getting them to camp. I have seen God doing tremendous things in these guys lives! I’ve seen them slowly changing and growing their relationship with God. And I just feel so blessed that God can use us in such crazy ways if we listen. Never would I of thought that I’d be spending my senior year with all sophomores but I would not trade it for anything. I was worried about leaving but I guess I learned that Gods work is going to be done as long as we love him, listen to him, and love those kids! God Bless
One thing I learned is that practicing club has made a HUGE difference in how smooth club runs! It sounds crazy, but it has made a big difference!
Congrats to Dave, Peder, Marcus, Brad and Anneke! You won! I will be contacting you soon. But feel free to keep commenting, they have been fun and encouraging!