Planting, Cultivating, and Trusting

If you have any remote idea what it’s like to be on Young Life staff, you know—it can get pretty busy. You're constantly connecting with the community, meeting kids, recruiting leaders, fundraising, casting vision, teaching, learning, and more. One person once described it as being like a circus plate-spinner......

We prefer to think of it as farming instead—planting seeds, cultivating relationships, pulling weeds, and praying for growth. And when that growth happens, we don’t take the credit. We give it to the God of the universe—the One who makes things sprout, brings the sunshine and rain, and nurtures the harvest. Only He can do it, and we know that. Our job is to go where He leads, do what He asks, and trust—even when it doesn’t make sense. Our time in Chelan Valley is no exception.

Trusting God’s Direction

When you step into a new area, you have to trust the direction God gives you. As we entered Chelan and Manson High Schools in September, planting seeds and praying for open doors, we quickly realized a key challenge was students trusting us.

How do you earn the trust of students who don’t know you, who may already be skeptical? Trust is everything when inviting kids to do something outside of school. So, we prayed and asked God, what’s the best way forward?

Chelan High School

We decided to bring Young Life inside the school during lunch. We pursued the idea of a CLUB AT LUNCH, and as soon as we moved in that direction, God started opening doors.

• An art teacher, who has previous Young Life experience, offered his classroom and agreed to be the club advisor.

• This week, the school officially approved our request!

Now, we’re gearing up for our very first Young Life Lunch Club on March 12th in Mr. Smith’s classroom! Over the next two weeks, we’ll be posting fliers and inviting students.

Exciting, huh?

Manson High School

Manson presented a similar challenge, but since we're still building connections with the school, we had to approach things differently. Shawn had a creative idea. We set up in the gym at lunch and invite students to play Minute to Win It games - offering candy if they could complete the challenge in under a minute. We put up signs and turned on some music. I wasn’t sure how kids would respond. To my surprise, they loved it!

They get competitive, cheering each other on, trying to beat each other’s times. We met 15 new students at our very first minute to win it event!

PRAYER REQUESTS

Pray for Chelan High School’s new Lunch Club. That in less than 30 minutes, we can share the gospel in a meaningful way to kids.

Pray for students to come!

Pray for trust to grow. That students will begin to connect with us outside of school.

Pray for Manson High School. That God will open doors for deeper connections, maybe even a lunch club there too.

Update: Remember Damion?

This is the kid from Jamaica that Shawn taught how to fish and took apple picking? Persistence matters when it comes to relationships with kids, and Damion is an example of that. Check this out..... Damion, who saw snow for the first time in November, has now learned how to ski - and his sister too! (students names are changed)

A huge THANK YOU to Mission Ridge, our favorite ski area, for giving Young Life kids $10 ski passes and $25 equipment rentals on Thursday nights!

Other News…

Deer Park/Riverside WyldLife

Middle school kids continue to pour into the gym for WyldLife Club! We now have five leaders—including two teachers and even the principal, show up early at the school to hands out hot chocolate and fliers before club on Thursdays.

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR DEER PARK

Pray for WyldLife Club this Friday the 28th!

Pray for high school ministry to begin. We may take a few high school kids to camp!

Pray we can GROW the committee as camp fundraising is needed.

Okanogan Valley

North of Chelan Valley, in Omak, is a small town with two high schools—one of which is on a reservation. Several years ago, Young Life started to take root there, but keeping things going has been a challenge. I’ve been asked to help oversee and develop the area.

PRAYER REQUESTS FOR DEER PARK

Pray for the committee and leaders in Okanogan Valley.

Pray for growth in the area—so that kids in Omak can experience the love of Jesus.

Thank You

Thank you for being part of this journey. Your prayers, support, and encouragement make a difference. We can’t wait to see how God continues to move in Chelan, Manson, Deer Park, and now Okanogan Valley!

*The below photo was a quick trip to see our Grace at GCU and spend time with some donors and friends in Arizona! (and we got to defrost in 75 degrees)