Sit through one of our planning meetings...I dare you

"It's about the journey, not the destination." - Joe, leading our opening devotion.

I have had several people ask me how on earth we come up with the events we do.  Without sitting through one of our planning meetings, there is no way for you to ever comprehend the conversations that result in our crazy events.  I do not want to subject anyone to have to sit through our meetings, but nor do I want you to have to continue to wonder what the creation of these events entails.  So, at our last meeting, I decided to type everything that was said, so that you can get an idea of the insanity that leads to awesomeness.  So here you go.  The following are direct quotes, unedited, and in the order they were said.  There were 2 adults, 1 high school student, and 2 middle school students. I did not edit, rearrange, add to or leave things out simply for effect.  This is as raw as it gets. 

"I need a non-procrastinating button.  Like a shock collar for when I procrastinate, so I won't procrastinate anymore."

"I had a crap load of ideas, but forgot"

"Do you remember one?"

"Can I have a cup of water?"

"No."

"Costume party!  No, snow theme!"

"Yeah, we could do that in Winter."

"Lets do a summer theme.  With a mini pool!"

"No, let's do that Santa pal thing..."

"Secret Santa?"

"YES!"

"Penguin theme."

"I can walk like a penguin."

"Dress up as your favorite reindeer."

"Gangster theme.  I'm a boss."

"Bubble, harry potter, hobbit , Lord of the Rings..."

"BACK ON TRACK PEOPLE" - (Student to the leaders)

More club theme ideas:
"twin, backwards, kidnap, hip hop, cops and robbers, that one sounds like someone will get hurt, ice cold, black light, MIRROR CLUB!"

"LET'S BUILD A MIRROR CLUB!"

*farting noise*

"Fear factor, minute to win it..."

"FEAR FACTOR!"

"We could get fish!  I have a real fish."

"I could get salmon and cod."

"I don't like fish in water."

"I could bring a dead fish."

"I have a question, is it really possible to swallow 24 live goldfish?"

"Ooooh.  That sounds like a good game."

More club ideas:
"Bigger, better, best.  Find your leader club.  Baby club..."

"I can bring a real baby!"

"Me too!"

"Nerd club?"

"I can't rock a nerd club."

"I was a ceiling fan for Halloween."

"Couch Olympics, pizza Olympics."


Kidnap club was what decided on.  Even though none of us knew what a Kidnap club would entail...or where the idea came from.  So we made it up.

Random quotes throughout the rest of the brainstorm process:

"let's use noodles, you can't really get injured with those."

"Have you guys ever heard of Mike the Headless Chicken?"


The something strange happened.  All 3 or our student leaders ), asked "Is there anything else we need to plan?" 

"Um...we haven't planned anything."

"Well, I have to be home at 8:00."

"Me too."

"Me too."

*everyone glances at the clock, to see that it is already 8:00*


And they all got up and left.  They literally all got up and walked out the door.  This left Emily and Bethany to do all of the planning... Literally all that had been decided, in one hours time, was that they wanted to have "Kidnap Club."  What on earth is a Kidnap Club?  We still have no idea. 

I turned to Emily and said "Emily, we have been here for an hour, and the only thing I have learned is that we have 2 students who are willing to bring live babies to club for a game."

We spent a moment laughing about the insanity of the conversation that had occurred over the last hour, and then got back to the planning process.

And what did we come up with?  45 minutes later, we had YouTube Club.  What is YouTube Club?  Well, it sure has nothing to do with kidnapping, that's for sure.

Next Thursday, we will split all of the kids into equal groups (with one leader in each group), give each team a video camera, and give them 30 minutes to make a video.  At the end of the 30 minutes, the teams turn in their cameras, and the footage gets uploaded to YouTube.  Whichever team gets the most views on YouTube over the next 2 weeks, until the next Wyld Life event, wins the prize.  Something BIG.  Like a pizza party, or ice cream, or a trip to the movies.  Something cool.  We haven't decided.  Maybe a pet penguin....We haven't decided yet...

I actually still don't know how either kidnapping or YouTube got worked into the mix.  We are pretty excited for YouTube club though.  I will be posting links to the videos as soon as they are uploaded.  Make sure to watch them, share them with your friend, and help the kids get lots of views.  :)

Joe, our high school helper, led the beginning of the meeting with a devotion, where he talked about how the journey is more important than the destination.  He shared how during his journey in his walk with Christ, when he focuses on the moment, seeking God TODAY, and not worrying about tomorrow, that's when he is able to really draw closer to God.  Sometimes, in Young Life, that's a good lesson to remember.  Even though sometimes our journey can be confusing and seem like it is leading nowhere, just like our planning meetings can be, I believe that God is big, and that he is intentional.  I believe that if we really stop and focus on our journey, we are going to learn a lot more than if we keep just trying to focus on the end goal.  And hopefully, when we learn to live in the moment, seek God in every moment, and take a moment to sit back and embrace what God is teaching us here and now, we will learn something. 

And I'm sure we will learn something more profound than learning that there are multiple kids who are willing to bring babies to Young Life for a game.  Or that there are kids (okay, and maybe one adult) who think swallowing 24 live gold fish is a good idea...

Jesus sure loves these kids

Over the weekend, I was on the phone with my brother, discussing some of the things that kids in middle and high school go through.  I  has telling him about a particular student, who has a remarkably broken past.  I won't go into any details, but imagine the most heartbreaking story you have ever heard, and then make it about five times worse, and that is this girl's life.  At fifteen, she had been through, seen, and done more things than any person should ever have to go through in their lifetime.  I know a lot of kids like that.  So much brokenness, so much pain, so much hurt, and so little joy in their life.  Sometimes it can get very discouraging being around so much brokenness.  Part way into our conversation my brother says "Geez, do you have any happy stories?"  And my response was "Yes. I got to tell that girl about how much Jesus loves her." 

The story doesn't have a remarkable ending.  The girl moved away, but still keeps in touch now and then.  I don't know if she has accepted Christ as her Savior.  But I know she knows about how much Jesus loves her, and I pray that the seeds that were planted in her heart will eventually grow, and that she will choose to have a relationship with Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Every Monday night is a happy ending, because every Monday night, a group of kids hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Eventually, they are going to hear it so much that they will believe it in their hearts.  Every other Thursday night is a happy ending, because a group of middle school kids hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Those are happy endings.  It used to be scary to tell kids about Jesus.  Okay, sometimes it still is.  But right now, it's just exciting.  We are so excited to tell kids about how much Jesus loves them, even if we don't see the immediate fruit.  I believe what the Word says, "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to carry it to completion."  I believe that a good work has been started in these kids.  Even if I don't get to be there for the ultimate happy ending, even if I'm not there when they begin a relationship with Christ, I know in my heart that these kids have heard, repeatedly, how much Jesus loves them.  We can't force them to believe it.  But we can keep telling them, and keep showing them that love.  So that's what we do.  And it's working.

There is a kid, let's call him Bob, who I used to see at the high school all the time.  Whenever he got an invite to Young Life, he would firmly say no, and eventually asked us to stop asking him to go.  That was last year.  This year, he comes every Monday night, has started going to church with one of our leaders, and helps with the middle school group on Thursday nights.  Bob used to go to church with his family, but they stopped going several years ago.  Bob is now active in his relationship with Jesus because of this other kid, who we will call Joe.

Joe started coming to Young Life when he was in 8th grade.  Joe became friends with Bob in high school, and Joe kept asking Bob to come to youth group, and this year, Bob finally agreed to come.  Now Bob and Joe come together every Monday night, and they both help on with Thursday nights.  When Bob started going back to church, Joe started going to church again too.  Bob and Joe both have an active relationship with Jesus, and are both plugged into a church. 

The day before we left for camp over the summer, someone couldn't go, so we had an open spot that was paid for.  This kid, lets call him Fred, got to go to camp, and ended up accepting Christ as his Savior.  Fred has a friend that lives with his family, who started coming to youth group with him.  Now they both come.  Fred's friend doesn't know Jesus yet.  But we are praying he will soon.

There were 2 best friends at the high school, who would never come to Young Life last year.  They were very against the idea of coming.  But then one of them moved to a different school, and when they couldn't see each other every day, they realized if they both came to Young Life, they would get to see each other at least once per week.  They were both very open about the fact that the only reason they came was to see each other.  Now they both come every week.  When I texted them to let them know we weren't having Young Life on Veteran's day, their responses were "That just ruined my night" and "Noooo!!!!"  Every week they hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Now they both bring friends with them each week, and those friends get to hear about how much Jesus loves them.  One of the girls is trying to start turning her life away from partying, and start relying more on Jesus than on alcohol.  Even if kids don't come for any reason other than to hang out with their friends, I'm okay with it.  Because they are going to hear about Jesus whether they like it or not.  And they are beginning to hear it so much that they are beginning to think maybe it's true.

We don't always see immediate  fruit.  We don't always see the change we want when we want it. But these kids are going to keep hearing about how much Jesus loves them.

Zombie Apocalypse

Even the leaders have become zombies!

The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us.  Personally, I'm not a huge Zombi fan.  I don't understand all of the hype behind this new fad.  But let me tell you, middle schoolers LOVE zombies. The night was full of eating handfuls of cold spaghetti (it look like they are eating guts, see pic below), zombie tag, fog machines, strobe lights, and as we always have at our Wyld Life event, Pie Your Leader in the Face.  Kids get to vote who they think should be pied in the face.  This week instead of whipped cream, the pie was made out of cottage cheese dyed pink, so it looked like brains.  It was disgusting, but the kids loved it. And what is Zombie tag, you ask?  Zombie tag is when you take a fog machine, fill the room with smoke, turn off the lights, turn on a strobe light, and choose one person to be a zombie (or "it").  The zombie has to walk like a zombie, groan like a zombie, and try to tag, or in this case "infect" everyone else.  When you get "infected" by the zombie, you also become a zombie, and have to infect other people.  It's quite the sight.  The night ended with Emily Simons talking to the kids about how sin can be like a virus that infects us - and can spread to every part of us, until it has completely overcome us, just as a virus turns a person into a zombie.  She discussed how sin can completely ruin us, and we don't even know it.  A person doesn't consciously realize they are no longer human, and have become a zombie.  Overall, it was a great night. Next week - Fake Injury Night.  Can't wait. 

The winner of our Zombie costume contest!

Zombie eating guts

Wyld Life Update

An update from Emily Simons, our Wyld Life (middle school Young Life) leader


 I wouldn’t say that little demon is the best way to describe a middle school student. Neither is wonderful angel or angry porcupine or hyperactive squirrel or distracted puppy or playful kitten or cupcake. A combination of all these things would be perfect, but the word comes out as demangporsquirpukicu and that’s just too long. Middle Schooler really is the perfect description; after all, how many people get chills down their spines when they hear that there were 40 Middle Schoolers at one event.
At the last club I was supposed to be the only adult, so it was decided that a Movie Night would probably be the best option, just so there wouldn’t be more craziness then I could handle. The flyers read: “Movie Night, Toy Story 3, Popcorn, Soda, Prizes.” Expect the unexpected, or in this case expect the expected. What was I thinking?! Give them soda and they’re all going to be perfectly content sitting down and watching a movie? One kid was so hyped up he couldn’t stand still long enough for me to grab him a bowl of popcorn and the majority of them couldn’t focus on the movie. Before I knew it they were playing foosball, pool, and they had a game of Ultimate Frisbee going on outside. Thankfully I did end up having two adult leaders there that night. I’m not sure what I would have done. One of them managed to break up a fight before it really happened. I talked about forgiveness that night, about how choosing to not forgive someone can cause a lot of bitterness and that Jesus has given us forgiveness the ability to give it to others.
Despite all the craziness, the night was a success. The students who went got to have fun and all of us leaders were able to build relationships and to get to get to know 16 students a little better. It may not have gone how I had envisioned it would but it did turn out the way God had wanted it to. Also, I learned something: if there is ever a night where I need everyone to be super crazy, bring soda.

Grieving the Spirit

I found this post that I had started many months ago, and never finished.  I felt compelled to post it, so here it is.

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Our Wednesday night Campaigner group has been going through the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan. If you have not read it yet, you should. I'm not kidding; you should read it as soon as you are done reading this post (or maybe even before). A few weeks ago, we discussed the fact that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. We, as humans, can cause pain to God. Francis Chan states that "the Spirit is grieved when there is a breach in relationship, whether it be relationship with God or relationship with other people. When we are dis-unified, unloving, hateful, jealous, gossipy, etc., that is when we grieve the Spirit of God. And since He is the creator of emotions, I believe that the Spirit grieves more deeply than we can ever understand." (Ephesians 4:28-30)

This particular subject was something I had not really given much thought to, and I began to pray that God would teach me what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit; I prayed that I would know and understand the grief that the Spirit feels. As Christians, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, when we are closely in-tune with the Spirit, we can begin to understand the grief that the Spirit feels. The Spirit reveals more and more to us, as we grow closer and closer to the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 tells us that we can know the mind of Christ. WE CAN KNOW THE MIND OF CHRIST! As it turns out, God loves to answer prayers. And as it also turns out, the process of coming to know what the Spirit feels when the Spirit feels grief is very painful; and even more so, the grief that the Spirit feels, is very painful.

God never really answers prayers in the way I expect Him to (go figure). Many of you know that I recently started working as a Para Educator at the High School. I had been subbing there for several months, and a week ago was put onto permanent staff. Throughout my time at the school subbing, and volunteering for the last year, I had developed great relationships with a lot of very hurting kids. This last week, I experienced one of the most heartbreaking moments yet at the school. A student who I had been working with for hours, every day, came into my room to have me sign his withdrawal form.  Students have to have their withdrawal form signed by the librarian before the school will accept their form.  This student, a senior, was dropping out with only 8 weeks of school left. I won't go into the details of this student's life, but I can assure you, it is maxed out with abandonment, disappointment, and has very little to no hope. When I signed his form, he walked around the desk, gave me a hug, and turned to walk out the door. The anguish I felt as he left my room was not something I was used to feeling. It wasn't just that I was bummed that he dropped out of high school - I felt as though the weight of the world that he must have been feeling was suddenly on my shoulders. I was grieving for him; I knew that as he walked out of the room, he had no hope. He did not have the hope of Jesus Christ in His life. I can only imagine how much greater the Spirit grieves for those who are not in relationship with Him.

As the week continued, I could not understand why I had such a heavy heart; the more time I spent around kids, the heavier my heart became. Finally, I realized what was going on. God was giving me a tiny glimpse of how grieved He is when the children He loves are not in relationship with Him. As it turns out, you should be careful what you pray for - sometimes the answers to our prayers are very painful. I'm sure what I was experiencing was just the smallest glimpse of what Christ feels when His children are not in relationship with Him.
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I wasn't sure how to end this post.  But rereading what I experienced several months ago has once again reminded me of how urgent and important it is that we share the love of Christ with all that we come into contact to, regardless of timing, convenience, timidness, energy level, or agenda.  We don't need to preach to them; we need to be with them where they are, and be what might be the only demonstration of Christ's love that they might ever see.

Wyld Life Spotting in Onalaska

Last Thursday night we launched our Middle School Young Life program - Wyld Life! Our first event was Glow Night. Everything was done in the dark, all the kids wore glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets. Have you ever played musical chairs (with another person being the chair) in total darkness? We have; it's pretty awesome. Have you ever seen what happens when you throw candy into a group of 40 middle schoolers, when the lights are off? We have; it's pretty scary. The kids had a blast, and 40 kids was more than we had expected. The night was awesome. We use the word awesome a lot - awesome. In fact, awesome is a pretty overused word - what does it really mean?

According to the dictionary:
awe·some/ˈôsəm/ Adjective: Extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear. Extremely good; excellent.

In Young Life we have a different definition:
Emily Simons gave the "club talk" (Jesus talk) that night, and ended with these words "You are going to hear me say this a lot, because it's true: Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you, and you matter. You are worth something to Him." Forty kids heard that they are loved, that they matter, and that they have worth. That, my friends, is awesome. I hope that from now on, when you say awesome, you think of kids hearing about how much Jesus loves them, and that it reminds you to pray for the youth in your community. That, would be awesome.


Do you want to pray for these kids by name?  Send us an email at onalaskayounglife@yahoo.com and put "Pray for kids by name" in the subject box, and we will send you a list of names to pray for after each event.

Wrestling With God

This last Monday night youth group, the topic of the message was wrestling with God. We discussed the passage of Scripture where Jacob wrestled with God, and then talked about what it meant for us to wrestle with God. All too often, we feel guilty for having doubts or questions about God, His character, or what we believe in general. It isn't often discussed that it is okay to ask the hard questions; to pursue the doubts we might have. Wrestling can be a nasty process - you come out exhausted, sweaty, covered in your opponents sweat, and during the match you have to get way too up close and personal for anyone's comfort. It's never easy, there is a high risk for injury, and there is never a guarantee that you will win. Similarly, this is how wrestling with God feels (only He always wins, which can be very frustrating in the moment). When we wrestle with God, we must be willing to put in the effort, to experience exhaustion, to risk getting hurt, put in the time, and get up close and personal. We have to be willing to come out drenched in the sweat, or essence, of God. These wrestling matches are never enjoyable in the moment, but our faith will always be strengthened and grown through these experiences. But we have to be willing to ask the hard questions, and we have to be willing to receive the Truth.

At the end of the night, I left a white board in the back of the room, and invited anyone to write down things that they wrestle with regarding God. In return for their honesty, we will be addressing each of those issues throughout upcoming youth groups. Here's what they wrote:

Things we wrestle with/don't understand:
-Why does God send people to hell?
-Why do we experience emotional pain?
-How do you serve and unpredictable God?
-My dad passing away
-How can God sit by and watch His children suffer so much if He loves us?
-If God loves everyone, how can he not just keep them from eternal life, but condemn them to eternal torment in Hell?
-Nearly 1/3 of the world's population are "untouched" places, and if you don't believe in Christ, you go to Hell, but how can they believe in what they've never heard of? How is this just?
-Birth defects - what did the kids do?
-If Jesus says that His people were Jews, then why are we called Christians?

We certainly have our work cut out for us in the next several weeks as we address these topics. It is so exciting to see kids growing in their relationship with Christ. I hope that throughout the next several weeks they learn what it truly means to wrestle with God, and that through their experiences they become closer and closer to Him.

Please continue to pray for our ministry!