stuff from the world's only Derek Bonesteel
The world has changed quite a bit since 1994 and how I do my job has changed drastically. Technology has been a huge part of this change. In fact, things have changed so much that I often sit back and think "What did I do all day before the internet was really a thing? How did I do my job?"
Read MoreHey folks, take a few minutes and check out the video from our banquet. Cinco Ranch alumn Mark McDaniel edited it for us and he did a fantastic job. We are confident it will move you.
YLKA2013 from Mark McDaniel on Vimeo.
The night we showed this video we had our largest banquet of all time and raised way more money than we have ever raised before. That was just 2 weeks ago. We have raised (in gifts and pledges) $250,000 towards our budget of $460,000. This budget year started in October, 2013 and lasts until September of 2014. We still have $210,000 to raise. This is where you come in. We are hoping to get 100 or so of our thousands of alumni to pledge an average of $50 PER MONTH to help us bridge the gap to raise the rest of our budget over the next 10 months. Would you consider giving us $100, $50, $25 per month to help us reach that goal?
If you want to do that you can do so easily by clicking right here on this link! If you want to give monthly (you do) then be sure to check the box that says "make this a recurring gift".
Thanks,
Derek Bonesteel
Darren Cameron
Andrew Packard
Mark Maxey
Joel Scott
and the entire YLKA team!
After reading so many wonderful posts about Nicole on Facebook today, I thought about what I could share to honor her memory and this is what I came up with, I hope this will serve those who read it as a way to remember her fondly and be encouraged that our hope is not in this world.
What follows are the literal notes I used at Nicole's funeral service.
Our friend Peter von Kahle made this great video for our banquet this year. He's a pro, hire him.
Collide - The Story of Young Life in Katy, Texas from Peter Philip Von Kahle on Vimeo.
What makes YL unique?
There are several things that make Young Life unique amongst other ministries that seek to reach high school folks. Unique doesn’t necessarily mean better, it just means that these are things we do that differentiate us from other ministries. I firmly believe that Young Life is just one small part of the body of Christ that fulfills a specific purpose.
Today I want to point out something that makes YL unique that we rarely talk about, and is almost never mentioned in any YL training. But first, let’s cover a few other things that make YL unique.
In most Young Life literature and training you’ll discover that what makes us unique is our focus on relational ministry. Our goal is to develop trusting, no strings attached, relationships with high school folks so that when we share with them about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him, they are hearing from a trusted source, instead of someone who is just a religious leader on a stage. While this is true of Young Life, it’s not terribly unique. Most evangelism and outreach is somewhat relational, even if that isn’t readily evident at first glance. What makes Young Life unique relationally is that we befriend the non-Christian. That’s who we want to get to know.
Another thing that makes Young Life unique is that we have the luxury of organizing ourselves the same way that kids do, by school. When I talk to youth pastors I’m always overwhelmed at what their job entails. They are trying to know and reach kids at many, many schools. They don’t have the laser focus on one school that a YL leader has.
However, the most overlooked thing that differentiates Young Life from many other ministries is this….
It is totally and completely voluntary.
What do I mean?
Pretty much every student who shows up to a Young Life club is there voluntarily. There is no one forcing them to go. They aren’t there out of obligation. They chose to show up. Their parents didn’t force them to go (there are rare exceptions to this), they didn’t have to be there to get credit for something at school or church, and they came to YL because they made their own independent decision.
This is the heartbeat of what makes YL successful. The entire premise of Young Life is that it is voluntary. Whether or not you show up at YL is voluntary. Whether or not you believe the gospel is voluntary. High school folks are independently mobile. What that means is that they can decide when and where they spend their time. So they can choose to be a part of YL on their own, or choose not to. They aren’t dependent on their parents to get from one place to another. So if they want to be a part of something, they are, and if they don’t want to be a part of something, they aren’t. This is in contrast to your average church youth group, where a much higher percentage of the attendees are there whether they want to be or not.
The decision to show up to YL club (or Campaigners or any other YL event) actually is a decision that oftentimes costs kids something. It costs them time away from studying, or other activities that they could be doing. Because high school folks have more choices now than they ever have before, it is potentially more costly than ever.
It’s incredibly encouraging that every kid who is involved in Young Life really wants to be involved! What a gift, and what a testimony to the effectiveness of “earning the right to be heard” and living incarnationally among young people.
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