The Last Day of Work

A small portion of the city dump. The entrance to the dump was a block away from the neighborhoods in which we worked.

Jordan, Chris, and Nick with some new friends.

One group put up multiple walls throughout the week.

Everyone got in their fair share of cement mixing this week!

Today we did a "mezcla" (mixture) of things. Some groups finished up their work sites while others played with new friends, made bracelets for women in the community, and enjoyed a low key morning in the neighborhoods. Sometime around early morning, Brady began taking groups of us to the local dump. To sum it up, Mr. LaRocque said, "At the beginning of the trip I had said that if you see one dump, then you see them all. I take it back. I take it back." The sight of the dump is truly overwhelming, and it's even more overwhelming to know that thousands of people make their living off that dump.

I (Annette) had a student who was raised in the dump, and she said that since she worked in the trash and ate from the trash, people told her she was trash. What reason do you have to rise up, or to hope, when your life is literally trash? Thankfully we serve a God who creates beauty from ashes and turns mourning into dancing.

After those trips, we headed to a "despedida" (farewell party) put on by the women in the communities. They thanked us and gave us gifts, we said our words to them, and we ate some tostadas. A few thoughts that stood out: Jimmy Kallas thanked the people in the neighborhoods for "helping us help them." It's so true. The homeowners were getting down in the cement with us, hauling buckets, giving us nourishment, and, at times, cleaning up our messes. It was a beautiful picture of community!

Another highlight was hearing from a woman in the community whose home received new walls. She stood before us crying, and thanking God for the blessings we were able to bring into her life.
A great last day, and we're looking forward to a volcano climb and time in Antigua tomorrow!

a day to remember

Today we got to hear from our young life guatemala leader Fito. Fito shared his story with us about how he had been involved with one of the gangs in the city before he found Christ. Everyone was sitting on the edge of their sits while listening to him share his story. Fito is from the neighborhood that we are working in and still lives there. When he grew up his family was the poorest of the poor and used to get made fun of at school about their poverty. He worked in the dumps for awhile before he rose in power within the gang. However, after a series of events (involving many gun shots and close run ins with death) Fito kneeled for the first time in his life and asked Jesus to come into his life. After that moment he stopped doing drugs and his wife left him with his two children. He is currently leading young life in this neighborhood and spending time with the gang members and drug lords this time for a very different reason- to talk to them about Jesus. Bottom line Fito is a great guy to have with us. It was amazing to get to hear his story and is something none of us will surely ever forget.

We also got the chance to go to the Guatemalean young life club tonight. It was a lot of fun to get to watch the kids from the neighborhood as they sang songs and played games. There was a slight language barrier but the smiles said it all. Matt, Jimmy, Jack, and Nick put on a skit for them in Spanish! It was hilarious and very impressive how well they spoke the language! :)

Tomorrow we work for half a day. It will be our last day in the neighborhood.

It has been such a blessing to spend time in the neighborhood surrounded by amazing people like Fito.

By, Mary Ruge

Post by Hannah "Montana" McCarthy

Today all of the groups had another day full of hard work, but everybody was successful and made much progress in their projects. During out lunch break we had the opportunity to listen to a new friend of ours her name is Estella and she is in charge of the "mamacitas" or young teenage mothers. We were given the opportunity to hear her story and learn a little bit more on how the people in these communities live. Her story was full of sadness but it was over powered by the happiness and joy that she gets from all the people that love her and are thankful for all of her help. What stood out to me the most was how willing she was to help these young moms, most of them are ages 14-18 and have nobody to help them to get the supplies that is needed to take care of their children. Without her help these moms would really struggle to get by each day. It was a blessing to hear her story and we were all happy that she opened up to us.

Once we left the work site we headed back to the house to have some dinner but this night was a little different. Instead of just our normal group of younglifers we had the Guatemalan younglife staff join us for some pizza. These people were from the neighborhoods that we have been working in the past couple of days. We all joined in conversation with them even though we all struggled with our spanish it was alot of fun. We had the opportunity to not only ask them questions about how they live their lives but we made some great new friends as well. We finished off the night by singing the spanish and english version of "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and then said our good-byes to our new friends. We all had a great time and hope to see them during our next few days at work. Well that is all I got. It was a great day with no rain so that is always a plus!! We hope that you are praying for our group but also for all the people that we are serving this week. See you soon

First Day of Work

We had a successful first day on the worksites! Team "Omar" is completely tearing down and rebuilding a new house, team "Kira" is working on laying some cement floors in a house, team "Bubbles" mixed loads of cement to create a sidewalk leading back into a neighborhood, team "String" is working on some floors as well, and team "Bunk" are rebuilding walls in homes and helping out on the big sidewalk project.

Each individual task may seem small, but they are huge blessings to the people we're working with. For example, every floor we lay means that that family will not have to live in mud during the three month rainy season. Three parts stone, 2 parts sand, and 1.5 parts cement can go a long way!

During our time of reflection tonight, we got to share some of our responses to the first couple days. Lacey, and many others, is loving the time that we get to spend with the children in the neighborhood; Jack had some laughs with some guys as he got to flex his muscles and haul sand from one work site to the next; Conor was impressed by how welcoming everyone is; Noelle and Kolby expressed some confusion over how immense poverty and immense wealth can reside so close together.

Our day is closing with some Uno, sandwhich making, conversation, laughter, guitar, and anticipation of what's to come!

FYI: Out of respect for the people we're working with, we won't be able to have cameras on the sites for the first couple days. As we get to know the people, cameras can come out. However, Brady is taking pictures. If you want to check those out, and read some of his thoughts, head to www.vjguatemala.blogspot.com

Estamos Aqui!

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind for us! Send off dinner at Papa Passero's, girls soccer winning the state championship, airport at midnight, flight at 3, land at 6:00 am.

However, we are safely in Guatemala and dove right into things. We jumped on the bus and went down into the neighborhoods where we'll be working. The different neighborhoods had welcome receptions for us--complete with the traditional Guatemalan fireworks and tasty tostadas (baked tortillas with guacamole and cheese). It was great to meet and interact with the people whom we'll be working alongside.

Thankfully, we have the afternoon to rest and recoup before we attack the job sites tomorrow. More to come!

Vamos a Guatemala!

The summer "camping" season is officially here! Young Life/WyldLife summer opportunities provide a great extension from a year of ministry, and a great intro into the next year. As of right now, 25o kids from Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills will be coming on trips with us. What does that number mean? It means a lot of kids will be coming face to face with their Creator in new, different, and signficant ways. Praise God for those opportunities--I am expecting great things.

Our first trip of the summer is our annual mission trip to partner with Vida Joven (YL) in Guatemala City. We have a group of 27 students, 7 dads, and 5 leaders heading down Saturday night on a redeye out of O'Hare. I would really appreciate prayers, and here are some ways to focus those prayers:

1) Safety: from the flight to our work in some rough neighborhoods, pray for protection.
2) Unity: that the group comes together, and that new and deeper bonds are formed.
3) Humility: that our group approaches the trip with an attitude of service and desire to understand the beauty that is Guatemalan culture and custom.
4) Transformation: that authentic transformation occurs within each person on the trip--that God would draw us all closer to him in unexpected ways.

We're hoping to update my blog throughout the week with pictures and stories from the job sites. Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Ice Cream Olympics

The traditional end of the year bash for Hinsdale Central Young Life is called "Ice Cream Olympics." This year, Ice Cream Olympics round 1 was rained out. Round 2, however, was a big success. We had 3 teams competing--the Sophomores, the Juniors, and the Almost Outta Heres (combo of Seniors and 8th Graders). Our games progressed from milkshake relays, to the chocolate sauce accuracy test, to ice cream scoop put, to a full out ice cream and shaving cream war.

Why do this?

It's so beautiful to watch a group of kids who otherwise wouldn't be together kick back and have good, clean (well, technically dirty) fun. When we first released the kids to the war at the end, I heard one girl ask, "what do we do?" Society tells kids, and adults too, that we have to be clean and put together. It tells us that we only mix with specific groups. It tells us that we have to keep our emotions reigned in. This night broke a lot of those imposed rules. Kids of all grades and friend groups mix together, laugh, get messy, and have fun. To a kid, it's just another fun night at YL. To me, it was a picture of the kingdom. All bets are off in the Kingdom of God! My prayer is that the kids present will look back on this night as something different and great, and one day be able to identify and claim exactly where that difference came from!

Team "Almost Outta Here"

Grant's chocolate sauce accuracy wasn't so much accurate :)


Group shot after the crud war--cleanest team wins???

Burrito Anyone?

As everyone knows from their own lives, Spring is a really busy time of the year. That manifests itself in different ways, but in the Young Life world it often means lower club numbers; as a result, I often find myself changing plans on the fly.

Take Monday night: we were planning on having a Guatemala Club to celebrate the WyldLife leaders who are heading out on the mission trip in a month. We were going to start outside with an egg toss and burrito relay, move inside for some songs and a spicy rendition of "Dance or Dare," and end with leaders sharing about their experiences in Guate last year. The rain changed the first plan, and numbers changed the rest.

Instead of doing this club, we opted for an intense game of catch phrase (girls won) and then a few rounds of the game psychiatrist. In the middle of psychiatrist I realized that I had all the ingredients for burritos from the relay that never happened, so naturally, I offered to make kids and leaders burritos. Pretty much every guy took me up on the offer.

My walk aways from the night? I love that I have a job where relationships matter. In the corporate world my numbers would be disastrous, but the kids who came felt loved and cared for by leaders, and we all had a great shared experience. It was a huge success.

I also love that I work a job where I can procure all the ingredients for a great burrito from a brown bag and no one asks any questions.

Welcome to spring in Young Life!

My Only Victory

Easter was really overwhelming for me this year. The reality of a resurrected Savior is indescribable so I've just been reveling in it. Often the reveling ends in tears. Good ones, but tears none the less.

In the context of Easter, I've also been reflecting on my first 8 months on WyldLife staff. I have lots of great stories of how God is working in the lives of high school and middle school kids in Hinsdale. There are 77 kids signed up for WyldLife camp this summer. I've learned countless lessons about life and ministry. Each story could be seen as a victory; but, thankfully victory isn't defined in terms of numbers and success stories. If worth in Christ depended on day-to-day results we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Enter this song/video. Justin McRoberts (who has YL history) sings this really great song called "My Only Victory." The chorus goes like this:

My only victory is Jesus/His life and death and resurrection/I place my hope alone in Jesus/and the coming of his Kingdom

I've been living in this song--literally on repeat in my car as its truth resonates in me. My only victory is Jesus and that's what drives everything. His life and death and resurrection fuel daily ministry and kingdom growth. Even writing this post I know that I'm not conveying the emotion inside of me, the joy from celebrating ministry in light of our resurrected Lord, so I decided to make a video. I paired some of the images of the past 8 months with the truth that my only victory is Jesus. Take some time to watch and rejoice over what God's doing around here!

(aside: the clip in the middle is from Bob Mitchell...hosted the first YL club back in 1941, was a club kid, went on staff, later was president of YL...)

Semana Santa

I was trying to explain to a good friend what it's like to spend "Semana Santa" in Guatemala. This friend doesn't speak Spanish at all and gets frustrated with me when I do. So, in order to do her a favor, I translated "Semana Santa" to it's English counterpart: Holy Week. In the process I managed to convey the assumption that she'd never heard of this Christian phenomenon called Holy Week. We laughed, I apologized, and proceeded to reminisce.

Good Friday in Guatemala was one of the most powerful experiences I've had. People spend hours and hours creating carpets of colored sand, flower petals, fruit, and other materials to line the road in order for the statues of Christ to pass over...they create beauty for ruin because they know it's an honor to do that for Christ.

Today is the day we remember Christ's sacrifice--I don't even know what to say about it right now--the thought is overwhelming. I'm humbled and wondering what I can offer Christ out of response to his sacrifice. Often I'm tentative to fully release areas of my life, my future to the Lord because I don't know what the result will be. If only I could cling to the truth I found on the streets of Guatemala--ruin in the eyes of the world is beauty and privelage in the Kingdom of God. As Paul sums it up in Philippians, "whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."

May we all lose today because loss is gain in our risen Lord's economy and because the mercy Christ is offering from his place on the cross is so much greater than anything we create or comprehend on our own terms.

I'm Not Dutch

You heard it here first. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes--all things genetic scream "I'm Dutch." But Facebook has disproved that theory. Sorry, Dad, your trip on the boat and time on Ellis Island meant nothing. Facebook says that I'm not Dutch. Not only am I not Dutch, but I'm classified as "anti-Dutch." Read this description: You have a natural tendency to dislike anything Dutch. You aren't as bad as those guys on the picture, (those guys in the picture are burning a flag from the Netherlands) but you certainly wouldn't stop anyone from torching a Dutch flag.

Sadly, I knew the answers to every question that would make me Dutch, but I just couldn't choose them. I'm sorry that my favorite winter sport is not ice skating on frozen canals, that my favorite food isn't smoke herring, and that I never have and never will use soft drugs.

Too bad they didn't as about Wilhelmina's, stroopwafels, windmills, tulips, oliebollen, and Ere Zij God!

Only in Hinsdale

Tonight we had our annual "Kick Back and Give Back" concert for Young Life. High School kids (talented ones at that) play music, we raise money for Guatemala Young Life. I had the job of collecting money at the door. $5 per person. One sophomore boy walks in and says, "I'm paying for four," and proceeds to hand me a $100 bill. I look at him and say, "do you need change?" He takes it back and says, "my bad, wrong bill." He rifles through his wallet and hands me a $20.

Only in Hinsdale.

(The concert raised $433.00 for our friends in Guatemala...that equals 3,377 Quetzales...a lot of rice and beans or whatever else they want to use it for. Praise God for the generosity and community of tonight!)

Story

I've been thinking a lot about the concept of "story." Really, I've been thinking about this for the past couple years--I wrote my senior thesis for English on the narrative patterns in Scripture that resurface in all of literature. From stories like "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" that directly reflect the narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation to literature like "Beloved" that rejects the pattern, and in that rejection makes a statement about the reality of the fall.

Needless to say, God reveals himself in story. Jesus preaches with stories. Stories reflect the heart of the Lord and in response, we should be well practiced in the art of storytelling. Stories dig deep and penetrate and we all have stories that are worth telling. In efforts to move forward with this idea, I'm going to practice my storytelling. My goal is to write a story a day and train myself to look for story and for the ways that God is showing up--it may be deep, it may not; I may offer some reflection, I may let the story speak for itself...I don't know. But, it's worth a start:

Yesterday my roommates and I went to this Irish joint down the road from our house to hear a band we'd heard about. The band sang some classic Irish pub songs--some familiar, some not, some border line irreverant, others completely irreverent. They had their groupies, and I was definitely not one of them. I enjoyed the music, laughed, danced, but clearly I was not a huge fan of the Irish Pub Scene. And someone called me out.

I was standing there halfheartedly clapping when a random guy came up to me and the following conversation ensued:

Guy: "I'm on to you; I can see right through you."
Me: "Excuse me?"
Guy: "You're not a fan of Irish music..."
Me: "Really, it's that obvious" (sarcasm was thick)
Guy: "Why are you here?"
Me: "Just enjoying a night out with friends...which I'm doing."

We talked for a few more minutes and then parted. But his words stuck with me. I'm on to you; I can see right through you. Although the situation wasn't all that signficant, it got me thinking about what drives me, what I'm passionate about. Am I someone who is sold out for what I'm representing, or am I putting on a facade that people can read right through?

Needless to say, random guy convicted me to daily present myself to the Lord and ask him to fill me with a true and heartfelt passion so that I'm not faking it and representing something I half heartedly believe.

Tension

We had an interesting discussion in intern training this past week (all first and second year YL staffers in Chicagoland get together every other week for time with Bob Davidson, our regional trainer) about music. We were all asked to bring in a song that conveyed a theological truth. I brought in "The Call" by Regina Spektor. It speaks for itself if you give it a listen. The conversation led to the topic of tension. Sometimes, to a person (high school/middle school kids in our case) who hasn't come to experience the overwhelming power of God's grace and saving love, certain music can dismiss the tension in life.

For example: They lyrics to a song that say "how can I stand here and not be moved by You." I know how I can be moved daily by the Lord, but I know a lot of people who only see the reality of what's in front of them, and that reality does not include abundant blessing . . .

Take Kevin.

Kevin, the boy on the left, was one of the people who we worked with this past summer on the YL work trip. This past week Kevin and his uncle, Clemente, were gunned down in the street. If you read this post (scroll down for a section on Kevin, read it all if you want to spend some time in the shoes of those whom live and work in the worst neighborhoods of Guatemala City) by Brady Greene, the YL staffer down there, it might seem prophetic. But is stating reality really prophetic?

Tension.

John 16: 22--Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Can Maritza, Kevin's mourning mother, in this moment, stand and be moved by the Lord? Or is acknowledging her pain and suffering and the reality of the neighborhood a better route to take? I think Jesus would choose the tension. Lepors. Outcasts. Promiscuous women. He meets each one in grief and leaves them with joy.

So, for now, I'm living in the tension, thinking about how Kevin and Hinsdale can coincide, living

with Maritza and the Vida Joven staff in their grief, and anticipating a taste of the joy that is promised.

(For more on Kevin and Clemente, please read the words Brady wrote for the funeral.)

YL Update: A Chronicle of Weekends

I have not been in Chicago for the past 8 weekends. That means that I have a lot of updating to do! The first couple weekends were Guatemala, the next couple New Staff Training, and the last four I spent doing some pretty great things with Young Life.

Weekend One: The day after I returned from NST I took a group of high school juniors and seniors on a WyldLife Leader overnight. The goal of the night: spend time in community and grow in the Lord. I focused the weekend on a message entitled "Story" by Donald Miller. Miller outlines that followers in Christ all have a climactice scene before them: to stand before the Lord and hear the words "well done my good and faithful servant." The question is, how will we get there? What story will we write? We studied the life stories of some of the greats from the Bible--their highs and their lows; we shared our life stories; we rejoiced in a God who works in and through our weaknesses.

Weekend Two: The great humor of Young Life in Chicago is our college leadership weekend. It's called the Leader/Staff Development weekend, aka, LSD. Yes, we go on a yearly LSD trip and can imagine all the jokes that follow. During this weekend the speaker spent his sessions focused on the common denominator between all Christian faiths: the Apostle's Creed. We spent time talking on the beautiful paradox of a triune God and looking at how that nature impacts ministry. Another great weekend.

Weekend Three: 7 to7 on the 7th. That was the catchy name of the 2009 YL All Nighter. The Dark Knight on IMAX at Navy Pier, Young Life club and a dance party at a barn, 2 hours of all access gaming at Game Works in Schaumburg, cosmic bowling, and breakfast. A months worth of fun in one night and I'm still recovering. Actually, any opportunity we have to show kids what fun without alcohol looks like is a really positive experience. And it was that.

Weekend Four: That's this weekend. This weekend I had the privelage of attending my niece Kiersten's first birthday party. She's sweet and it was fun to celebrate her. Noah had his hand in everything, but the day was really Kiersten's. It's amazing to see how much (or little depending on how you look at it) she's grown in the past year, to see her personality show, and to watch how those sibling relationships develop so young!

It's nice to look ahead and NOT have to be gone next weekend. Hopefully will provide some time to rest up after the non stop grind that has characterized 2009.

Guate (only a month late)

I've always bragged that I lived in a global south country and never had "anything" happen to me; this trip set a few things straight. Enjoy the chronicles of (mis)adventure. As you may recall, the time surrounding Christmas was especially blustery. In fine midwestern fashion, it took us 7 hours to travel from GR to Chicago--leaving NO time for me to pack a suitcase. My roommate met us at the highway with a few things and rushed us to the airport. We arrived after Tasha's flight was scheduled to leave, but due to the massive sheet of ice spread over the midwest, we were able to make it out of O'hare.

Our first day in Guate, we headed out to Coban (about 4 hours from the city) in hopes to spend a day enjoying the water at Semuc Champey. The drive went well (minus the scare of being pulled into a police checkpoint--never know what you're going to get there) and we made it to Coban. As we went to book our trip to Semuc, we learned that we needed to pay in cash. No problem, ATM down the road. Unfortunately, that ATM decided to consume my card...yes, my only ties to cash were embedded in the bowels of an ATM in Coban, AltaVerapaz, Guatemala. Sweet, right? To add on, no cash=no Semuc. So, the next day we turned around and went back to the city.

Beautiful drive, Great conversation, not a complete loss.

We went out for dinner and decided on Antigua for the next day. That is, until Tasha woke up with her eyes swollen shut! A severe allergic reaction led me to believe we might have to take a trip to the hospital (which are even scarier than the police checkpoints). No need, swelling and bulging went down and we were able to enjoy Antigua with 75% of our vision in tact.

Things started turning around here. The next day we went to the ruins at Mixco Viejo with some friends from school. Mixco Viejo marks the edge of the Spaniards' path of conquering. The ruins were very different from any I'd seen, and I love the histroy. The only downfall of this day was a touch of carsickness from the windy/bumpy roads there. Not bad.


From there on, we were home free. Spent a day in the city market shopping and a day at the spa with pools heated by natural hot springs and cheap massages. Couldn't ask for more! After Tasha left, I spent time catching up with friends from my time in Guate. I got to climb the volcano with the Greene's (YL staff in Guate), navigate through random "ecological parks" with Sherry and Javier, catch up with Trisha (my old roommate), spend a day at school seeing students, help out at soccer practice with the new freshman goalie, and spend time with my dear friend Karina and her super sweet daughter Ily.


All around, it was a great time to be back in the country I love with people who played an extremely important role in my life.

Classes

One class down, 3/4 of one to go. Our first class was called "Foundations of Youth Ministry" taught by Chap Clark. Chap wrote the book, "HURT" which offers an amazing and real look into the world of adolescents in culture today. We learned a lot about how to best work with middle school and high school kids. Too much to write about, but I'd love to chat about it if anyone is interested.

The class we are currently taking is called "Life of Christ" taught by Dale Bruner. Bruner is a scholar (to say the least) on the book of John and offers a compelling look into Christ, his words, his actions, what we can learn from his approach to ministry. It's refreshing to hear him talk about the gospel that so often becomes too familiar.

Amidst these two sessions we've had breakouts on different aspects of ministry and YL specific stuff. I'm going to have to spend some serious time processing and applying everything I've learned here.

Sacrifice of Praise

I grew up singing the song, "we bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord..." and didn't, until yesterday, understand exactly what the sacrifice of praise meant. Yesterday a New Staffer from Washington led us in worship. The night before, he found out that his wife lost the baby that she was carrying. While waiting for his flight home, Phil was around for one last chapel out here, and he wanted to lead worship. Completely broken and humble before the Lord, Phil still stood in praise. A sacrifice of praise.

It was a beautiful and painful moment for everyone.

New Staff Training 1

My recent adventures have led me home to MI, down to Guatemala, and now to Frontier Ranch outside of Buena Vista, Colorado. I, along with 240 other Young Life staff (mostly new staff) are here for two weeks of training. What does that mean? A lot of relational time discussing ministry in groups, two seminary classes taught by amazing profs (Chap Clark and Dale Bruner), and breakout sessions specific to different areas of ministry.

I am (again) rededicating myself to my blog as it is a good way to share what's going on, so my goal is to share some highlights from New Staff training. I'll update on the trip to Guate when I have a camera cord and can include pictures.

The hands down highlight of NST so far is the sessions on the "Roots and Fruits" of Young Life. If you don't know much about the history of YL, check this out. These sessions were led by Bob Mitchell. Bob's YL repetoire: came to Christ at Jim Rayburn's first tent meeting, hosted the first ever YL club, was Rayburn's club kid, went on staff, started YL in San Francisco, served as president of YL for ten years...........you get the picture. Remember that passage in Hebrews about being "surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?" That's what these seminars felt like. Bob was intricately involved in the formation of this ministry and has walked with it through ALL its highs and lows. He told personal stories about Jim and demonstrated songs and skits from the first clubs. That alone is amazing.

In addition, he shared a set of historic values to which YL (and any ministry) needs to adhere to in order to sustain in ministry:

1. Focus on the incarnation of Christ.
2. Teach the Trinity.
3. Maintain scripture as the basis for message and ministry.
4. Reaching out to the non churched kids and building relationships of love with them.
5. Always communicate a spirit of adventure.
6. Keep a sense of humor--take our message seriously, but not ourselves.
7. Organizational and financial integrity.
8. Humility.
9. Commitment to quality training at all levels.
10. Spiritually nurture kids who commit to Christ (discipleship)
11. Equal opportunity for women in leadership.
12. Racial equality in ministry.

These are values left with us from a legacy of YL staff, but what will we do with them?

A fun story:

Before YL camps, Jim just took kids and sleeping bags out into the Texas wilderness. In Bob's words, all the kids pulled out their crappy bedrolls on the Texas rock, and Rayburn pulled out his air mattress. No one had ever seen air mattresses. So, naturally, the kids deflated it in the middle of the night. Rayburn's response "blow it up boys, and I'm not moving."

That's our history!