Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was the "A Team". Although Mr. T with his gold chains and "I pity the fool!" attitude gathered quite a bit of attention, it was the words of Hannibal, the group's leader, that stuck in my mind.  With cigar tucked in the corner of his mouth, he would say "I love it when a plan comes together" at the end of every successful mission. 

I, too, love it when plans come together. I love it even more when that successful plan includes partnerships and collaboration.  The other day Ken Schmidtke, 25 year Tacoma YFC/Campus Life director, shared the story of Graham area ministry through a note written by Justin Henderson, youth pastor at the Church at Cedar Springs.  Check it out:

A year ago, our church had no significant involvement in our community. It felt that we were simply waiting for others to come to us. We desired to get into the local schools and work with other churches, but there was no clear avenue to make it happen. We were becoming desperate. One day, fed up with navel gazing in my office, I remember crying out to God, asking him to push us beyond the walls of our building. Then came a miracle. Not long after this prayer, a member of our youth group approached me with a card from another local youth pastor. She stated that this youth pastor was hanging out with kids in her junior high lunch room and was interested in meeting me. 

I had no idea that this other youth pastor, Tim Smyth, was running a Campus Life ministry. Actually, I had no idea that Campus Life even existed in our area. Tim and I met for coffee and he asked me to attend the final club gathering at the end of the school year. At club, I was astounded. There were over 50 kids! They played games, shared the gospel and served root beer floats. I had seen nothing like this in my life- on the school campus, directly after school and the gospel is being presented with an opportunity for salvation. Several kids accepted Christ that day. 

Our church has not been the same since. This last year, we joined Tim and now help lead Campus Life at two schools, Frontier Junior High and Graham-Kapowsin High School. Our church is learning from Youth for Christ. We are becoming more outreach focused. Our people are moving beyond the safety of our church and into the community. We are now serving in all sorts of capacities, in several schools and neighborhoods. And we are partnering with other churches. Our youth group recently joined Tim Smyth's youth group for an all-nighter, located at another church in our community!  We have begun discussing ways that we can gather all the area pastors to meet and pray together. 

I am immensely thankful for impact that YFC has laid on our church. It has started us on a brand new path. 

What a great picture of Kingdom partnership and reaching kids together as the body of Christ! Thank you, Ken, Justin and Tim for passion to reach kids in Graham with the great news of Jesus!

Part of our mission statement says "working together with the local church." To learn more about Campus Life ministry sites, CLICK HERE

Faith currently is a Campus Life Leader at Frontier Junior High and a Sunday School Leader at Graham Evangelical Covenant Church.

Jeremiah 29:11

I started going to Campus Life when I was in 8th grade towards the end of the year. There were only about 4 weeks left of school when I started going so I didn’t really get established in it. But the idea of it was what drew me there. I was already Christian and the thought of a youth group at school was really cool to me. Come 9th grade I was really hoping that it was going to come back. I was anticipating it, excited even. I met Pastor Tim for the first time when I saw him walking around at lunch passing out Campus Life fliers. I didn’t know him so I went over to introduce myself and ever since then he’s been a positive influence in my life, and my friend. It took about a month or so after I started going to club before Pastor Tim got me going to youth group at Graham Evangelical Covenant Church. I felt right at home. Then from there I went to Sunday Services. I have never felt so rooted and at home at a Church before. The people at Graham Covenant Church are a second family to me. By the time I hit my sophomore year in High School I was able to become a Sunday school teacher. I jumped at the idea because I love kids so much!

Through starting at Campus Life, I found my home Church, was able to go on my first mission’s trip, and become a Sunday school leader. Right now my prayer is that God shows me the next step.  

CLICK HERE To learn more about Tacoma Youth for Christ's Campus Life program.

SOZO: TO PRESERVE?

by Doug Jonson

I am the Director of our weekly ministry in the Hilltop called Sozo. People often ask me what Sozo stands for and I explain that it’s a Greek word that’s used 108 times in the New Testament, including the passage in Luke 19:10 where Jesus was talking about the despised tax-collector, Zacchaeus: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to savewhat was lost.” The Greek word for “save” in this passage is “Sozo.”

“Sozo” is a powerful word, and has many meanings: deliverance, restoration, protection, healing, making whole, and preservation.

When I first started working with our youth through this ministry, I was so excited about these meanings of the word because this was so fitting for what God wanted to do in the lives of our youth.

God wants to deliver our youth from their bondage and addictions.

God wants to restore our youth to the original purpose and design He has over their lives.

God wants to protect our youth from the power and influence of the enemy.

God wants to heal our youth from the pain and injustice in their lives.

God wants to make our youth whole from the wounds they’ve endured.

But preservation? The other definitions of the word excited me, but this meaning of the word seemed so passive and unexciting.

I’ve only been doing urban youth ministry for 6 years—not a long time compared to heroes of the faith like John Perkins and Wayne Gordon. But in 6 years, my perspective has radically shifted, and I now view everyone and everything with a long-term perspective. I’ve began to walk with youth from grade school to early adulthood, I’m realizing that one of the most consistent and powerful things that God has been doing is preserving. Time and time again I have seen God preserving our youth, especially as we’ve started working with kids at a young age…

God has been preserving the child-like innocence that He originally designed for their lives.

God has been preserving a purity that He never intended to be lost.

God has been preserving our kids’ hearts to trust and be loved.

I’ve noticed that as our kids begin to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, allowing others to love them, trust and be trusted…something begins to happen: they seem younger. I don’t mean that they become more immature…not only is God doing a preserving work in the lives of our kids, He begins to do a restoring work of giving them back the childhood that many never experienced. God begins to peel away the hardened lays of self-protection and kids begin to play and laugh in ways that they should have when they were younger. Everyone who went to camp with us last year knows exactly what I’m talking about: we brought more than 200 kids to camp, and almost all of them spent about 3 hours each day in the shallow end of the pool, laughing and playing like my 5-year-old Lucy does. It was a beautiful thing to see. It’s such an honor to play a part in God’s restoring work, but it’s so much more exciting to be a part of the preserving work of a child. God, our prayer for them is that the child-like purity never be lost in the first place.

There’s something beautiful about praying with a kid.

Last week at Sozo, a kid I’ve met once before asked me to pray for him. An 8^th grader from a broken home, he’s not extremely vocal, articulate or eloquent. He just “wanted prayer.” The ambiguity of his request is what really makes me smile. I tried to pull out a little more information…

“What can I pray for you about?”

“I dunno. Just stuff. I think I’m depressed.”

“Do you want to talk about it some? Is there anything specific that comes to your mind?” 

“No. I just… want… you to pray for me.”

“Ok. Yes. Sure. Absolutely…. let’s pray!”

Although my heart aches in a young person’s brokenness, moments like this make me so thankful to our Heavenly Father. Somehow God saw fit to let me represent Him to a young person on Tacoma’s Hilltop. I got to stand before heaven and intercede for someone that was supremely loved by the maker of the universe.

I placed my hand on his shoulder and began to pray… and I don’t even really remember what I prayed, but I know my heart burned as I spoke. As I prayed, we both had tears come to our eyes. I remember just begging God to show James how much He loved him.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” - Romans 8:26

After we finished praying, I gave him a hug and made him promise that he’d come back next week so we could hang out some more. He agreed and smiled. As best as I can surmise his smile was real and displayed a real joy. 

Do you remember the first time you realized that God really, truly, loved you? I think that’s what this young man realized that moment. What a great night at Sozo.

Myron Bernard leads Indigenous Leadership Development in our City Life Ministry.  

Mike Olson is the Tacoma Youth for Christ Deaf Teen Quest (DTQ) Director. Mike loves working with deaf young people throughout Pierce County. You can check out his full bio HERE, or donate to his ministry HERE by selecting "Campus Life" from the first drop-down, and "Mike Olson" from the second drop down.

Mark* has never been the easiest kid to get to know at school. In fact, when we met last year he spent six weeks making every effort to show people he was ignoring me. So this year when I came back to school I was surprised to find him at my elbow asking for help, he was in trouble with a teacher again. It wasn’t hard to imagine Mark getting into trouble. He swears loudly in the hallway and lunch room, punches people before asking questions and complains, a lot. When we talk at the lunch table my half of the conversation is usually “no” or “put that down”. So that he would want my help was amazing. He wanted to know how to tell the teacher and student that he “didn’t do it.” Of course he was asking for help while being 5 minutes late for class. I gave him a suggestion and the strong encouragement that being late wouldn’t help his case. That seemed to work and off he went.

It might seem strange to be excited to get a kid to move from ignoring me to merely using me, but I am. You see a year ago God put it on my heart to pray for this kid. Someone asked me to pick one kid and pray that he would know the love of Jesus. So that is what I have been doing. Will this be the year? I don’t know, all I have been asked to do is pray and share.

There are many more like Mark in Pierce County. Deaf kids that don’t get to have the gospel shared with them. Will you join with us at YFC by picking a kid and praying for him or her?

*For the privacy of this young person, we've changed their name for this blog

"So how are you feeling about treatment?" I asked.  Looking down at her growing belly, she shared, "I have to do this for the baby.  My baby is still healthy and I need to do my part." Tunya had been using some very dangerous drugs the past few months, and was more addicted than she had been in her life. 

My heart ached for Tunya. She had surrendered her life to Christ in Remann Hall about 4 years ago. God had healed her mind from trauma in her childhood and brought her into freedom from some very destructive patterns. She spent some of the past 4 years pursuing God and his purpose for her life, but the recent years have been spent pursuing her own interests.  I longed to see her freed from this addiction, from going back to the comforts that she uses to meet her needs. I longed for her needs to be met the way God longs to meet her. I prayed for her in my head as I drove and held back my tears. 

We pulled up to the treatment center. I walked her up, met her counselor, learned about the program, and gave Tunya a big long hug.  She wouldn't let go and her tears streamed onto my sweatshirt. I held her for a few minutes and prayed over her; declaring who I know she is, what God has planned for her, His love for her, His desire for her return to him, and asking God for her freedom. 

And then I walked away. 

In all my years of working with teens, I'd never driven one to treatment myself. I wanted to stay with her, all 28 days if I could. I knew she'd be alone with God. She would have to face her pains, fears, and decide if she would stay.

I took the elevator down to the street.  I walked to my car, got inside, and wept.  God please help Tunya; please help her to turn to you, to receive your help, to let you in, and heal her. 

*for the privacy of the youth we have used a different name

This past week we had the honor of hosting Jean Baptiste, his Board Chairman, Sam and a senior Rwanda YFC staff, Luc.  It was Luc's first visit to the states and by the time they arrived in Tacoma they had already spent 10 days in Denver at the YFC International General Assembly, the gathering of YFCI staff from around the world.  

If you'd like more information about Rwanda YFC, please click here to check out their web site or watch the video below:

Fast forward to 5 of our current cabin leaders at YFCamp who worked with kids just like they were five years ago:
De’Marko now oversees the Late Night programs on the Eastside and at the People’s Center in Hilltop.
Justin and Patrick both work year-round at Giaudrone and run the City Life Float Friday program there.
Kainen Bell received recognition as the Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year and spends his free time volunteering with the younger kids in the neighborhood.
Corasia helps run Sozo and Late Night.

All 5 of these youth are now young adults who gave their lives to Christ through City Life’s Sozo ministry 4-5 years ago, and were cabin leaders last week at camp. All 5 of them helped fill their cabins with kids that they’re influencing and pouring into year-round, and they were unbelievable last week. These guys absolutely hit the ball out of the park!