YMI 2009

YMI has begun! Much has happened in the last month. Here is a little update.


The YMI House. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, one of the changes to YMI this year is that we have chosen to move our students into an urban, lower-income neighborhood called the Argentine. Rather than spending most of the semester at camp, they live every day serving and caring for their neighbors.

One of the question marks for YMI towards the beginning of the summer was a place to live. Kurt and Emily had been living there and knew of several apartments where our students could live. However, one day, Kurt looked out his window and saw the perfect house.... plenty of room for a family and our YMI students.... and for a great price.

Less than a month later, Erik Leafblad and his family, along with our students moved into the house less than a block away from Kurt and Emily. What a blessing!


Kurt and Emily (and Luke). Several years ago, Kurt and his wife Emily, moved to Kansas City after graduating from Iowa State to be part of Youthfront’s Mexico program. One of the great things about Youthfront’s program is that they believe that the best ministry is incarnational. In other words, like Jesus, they came to live with and around the people they were reaching. They sought to bring the message of the kingdom with humility and solidarity. Ministry was not only about a message proclaimed, but a message embodied.

When they moved back to Kansas City, they became involved in YMI. One of the great advantages to having someone like Kurt working with YMI, is that his passion for doing this type of ministry is absolutely contagious, not only to our students, but our staff as well.


Erik and Amy (they also have two kids, but they are not pictured). Erik and Amy have also had a great influence on YMI. Their passion for alternative forms of education fit wonderfully with the vision for YMI. Erik, who earned his Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, is one of the more intelligent men I’ve ever met, yet he has a great ability to make things that are complex understandable for people like our YMI students.


A day at YMI. So how does YMI look day to day this year? Typically, every Monday through Friday, there is a book discussions in the morning, led by Kurt, Erik, or me. In the afternoons, the students are out building relationships in the community though activities like after school programs, service projects, and other various ministry opportunities.

On Friday’s, we spend a day at Youthfront South. After some discussion in the morning, the students use this day as a retreat from the busyness of the Argentine. They spend time in prayer, study, solitude, and rest.

Mexico. Part of YMI is spending two weeks in Mexico together. On Monday, Amanda, Abi, the YMI students and I will be piling in a van and driving to Monterrey, Mexico. Pray for us as we go.

Abi Update

Abi Update: This month, I went to the zoo and saw lots of animals. Daddy put me on his shoulders like he was a horse. I kept saying “horse, horse!” This months I also helped mommy in the kitchen a lot.

Septmeber Prayer Guide

YMI Mexico We leave Monday for two weeks in Mexico. Pray for safety in every sense. Also, pray that we would hear and respond to what God calls us to. Pray that the students will be very attentive to their environment, learning and growing from the things they experience. Also, pray for relationships. Pray that they will be built easily and quickly.

Also, pray for our interactions with Youthfront Staff in Mexico. Pray we will be able to serve them well and step easily into the ministry they are already doing.

Family. There is nothing sweeter than your daughter calling you on the phone to say “wuv woo” (love you). We love being parents. Like all humans, Abi’s will has also developed. We are already to the point of having to stay very on top of discipline. Pray that we will be good parents. Pray we will be consistent, God-centered, and heart-focused as we help Abi know what it means to be a good girl.

Joy and Evangelism

Mike King, the president of Youthfront recently wrote a really interesting blog entry in response to a popular you tube video. I wanted to pass it on to you. It's a video of a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program in which a large group of people performed a music routine from the Sound of Music in the middle of a busy train station. In the words of Mike, "the response of the commuters is extraordinary as they move from surprise, awkwardness and discomfort to finding themselves caught up in the experience. I think this video is a fitting metaphor for the church and our invitation to those outside our communities of faith to enter into the joyful story of God unfolding in the world." Follow this link to read the blog and see the video. king.typepad.com

BROKEN PHONE

The screen on my phone cracked in the midst of our service project. Do you have an extra Sprint phone I can use for a few months? I'm hoping to switch carriers in October, so I would prefer not to buy a new one. If so please call me or email me...

A Life that Counts

I think we all want a life that matters for something. Yet, there are countless people who come to their end and discover that nothing worthwhile or lasting came from their time on earth. So what happened?

There are many reasons why people end up wasting their lives. Some can’t quite muster up the courage, knowing that living a life that counts requires sacrifice of the things they enjoy. Their comfortable situation is just too valuable to them.

Others are just too busy. They are so focused on climbing the corporate ladder (or some other symbolic ladder), that they forget to check if their ladder is leaning on the right house. Still others, know ing what it takes, just decide that its simply too hard. They would rather cover over the emptiness and lack of meaning with fun and toys which they hope will help them cope.

I think that almost all the roadblocks to meaning can be summed up in one word, “desire.” For most people, the daily desire for comfort, recreation, and accolades outweigh the desire for meaning. Yet we all know, that in reality a meaningful life is tremendously more important than the latter.

One of my favorite authors, CS Lewis wrote, “... it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

One of the best ways we can grow in our desire for Christ and his kingdom, is not to suppress our desires, but to cultivate the right kind of desires in our souls.

For me, mobilizing others to love and serve is one of the best cultivators in my spiritual life. This past week, Amanda and I helped facilitate a service project for a church from Ames, IA.

The youth came down and painted a elderly widow’s house in an urban area of Kansas City, KS. Before they arrived there was a lot of peeling paint and bare wood. Two days later, the entire house was a beautiful new brownish-gray color with white trim. It was hard work, but there is something about hard work and service that is a means of grace to the one who serves, (and to the one facilitating that service).

It is easy to say that this project was just as much about my joy and desire as it was about the joy of Grand Avenue Baptist in Ames and the joy of this elderly widow in Kansas City, KS.

I pray that your joy this month will also be full and meaningful as you support and mobilize these types of ministries through your prayers and giving.

Signage

sign⋅age (sī'nĭj):

noun 

signs collectively, esp. commercial or public display signs.

One of the exciting events around Youthfront this month was the Youthfront reunion. Hundreds of people came in, from as far away as France, to re connect with old friends from their days at KCYFC/Youthfront.

Unfortunately, Amanda, Abi, and I could not attend (due to an important wedding the day of the event). However, I was able to help get ready for the event. Topher, my brother, and I worked on new signage for Youthfront camp West. We spent a couple days in the heat digging holes, cutting wood, and pouring concrete, so that the new signs would be ready when our guests arrived.

For me there is something really rewarding about hard manual labor in the sun.