Previous Notes From the Executive Director

Hope & Collaboration

Rick Zomer — Wed, 24 May 2023 17:54:04 +0000

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By Rick Zomer, Executive Director of ThereforeGo Ministries

Earlier this month, I was a part of a group of 35 individuals invited by the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) to come to Pasadena, CA to discuss findings from their most recent research initiative. Their project is focused on discipleship initiatives with young adults, and FYI’s goal for the event was to share initial findings with church, denominational, non-profit, and young adults from different contexts. I was honored to be included in this event as it clearly aligns with ThereforeGo’s mission statement to help “churches challenge youth and emerging adults to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and transform this world for him.”

I’ve been in my role with ThereforeGo for 5+ years and in that time, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with hundreds of church leaders across the United States and Canada. While each interaction is unique, I can say without hesitation that there are two shared themes that have emerged from these conversations. The first is that many churches are struggling to maintain and/or build connections with emerging adults in their congregational contexts and the second is that many churches feel alone or isolated in this process.

While I believe that FYI’s research is important, upon reflection I would say hearing their findings wasn’t my biggest takeaway from the event in Pasadena. My learning can best be summed up by two words: “hope” and “collaboration.” By showing up, the leaders who gathered in Pasadena demonstrated hope that the church can be a place where emerging adults and their gifts are welcomed. By gathering with others, they demonstrated that learning happens best through collaboration as it gives the opportunity to hear and learn from others.

I encourage you to spend a few moments reviewing our website for ways your congregation might collaborate with ThereforeGo and other churches in our shared ministry to youth and emerging adults. We’d be happy to connect to answer questions or talk about next steps.

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Crock pot or microwave?

Rick Zomer — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

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Have you ever prepared a roast early morning and then let it cook in a crock pot throughout the day? Have you ever placed the ingredients in a bread maker and set it to be ready at dinner time? If so, you know what it is like to have your space fill up with the smell of food cooking for hours and the anticipation that it creates for the food you’ll enjoy later in the day. In fact, it is the pace of the cooking that adds to your enjoyment of your meal. On the other end of the spectrum, a hot pocket that is heated in the microwave for a couple of minutes might provide a hungry person food. However, it is doubtful that its’ flavor or your anticipation would match the quality that comes from a slow cooked meal.

So, what does crockpot cooking have to do with mentoring? I believe many of us choose to employ a microwave approach to how we structure our expectations for building intergenerational connections: we are willing to invest a minimal amount of time, but for some reason are surprised if the relationship that develops isn’t what we hoped it would be.

We would do well to be reminded that an impactful relationship takes time. In fact, time is the very thing that helps build connection, depth, and meaning in mentoring. In the same way crockpots create enjoyable meals, a slow, deliberate, and patient approach to forming relationships continues to be the best way to building meaningful intergenerational connections.

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Posture

Rick Zomer — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

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Many of us approach mentoring with the idea that it is a process that is based within a specific context: two people sitting across a table from one another engaged in a guided conversation. While that may be true in some instances the posture of mentoring doesn’t have to be limited to a face to face meeting. In fact, initially it might be better if it doesn’t.

Sitting directly across from someone can be an intimidating posture for individuals as they begin to get to know one another in a mentoring relationship. While a table may provide a physical buffer there may still be a sense of vulnerability that comes from being in a person’s direct site of vision for an extended period of time. To help ease that anxiety, it might be helpful to consider the physical posture we employ as we seek to build intergenerational connections.

Rather than starting face to face, consider changing your posture so you are shoulder to shoulder during your initial interactions. Look to do things together that might create space for conversation without having to stay in a fixed location like taking a walk, or meeting outdoors in a park or location with a shared view. This shift in posture may create a more casual atmosphere that sets a foundation for the deeper conversations that are often part of a long-term mentoring connection.

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Perspective

Rick Zomer — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 17:30:00 +0000

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Over the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of working with several churches that are interested in developing intergenerational mentoring connections in their congregation. While each situation is unique, there are some common themes that emerge in these conversations. Over my next two posts, I’ll deal with two of them specifically: the first will focus on a perspective that might be helpful at the beginning stages of a mentoring relationship, and the last will deal with the idea of posture.

So, what does perspective have to do with mentoring? For many of us, we may be hesitant to begin meeting with a student or emerging adult unless we have a clear idea of what it looks like to be a “successful” mentor. Or we may begin a mentoring connection with someone only to lose momentum if we find our initial conversations to be challenging or even awkward. In doing so, we are experiencing the impact our personal perspective can have on our ability to connect with a younger person. From an “older” person’s point of view, a challenging or awkward beginning to intergenerational connection might be viewed as evidence that they aren’t equipped to be the perfect mentor to an emerging adult.

The good news however, is that young people aren’t looking for their mentors to be perfect, they are merely looking for them to be present in their lives. An older person who is able to shift their perspective to reflect this reality will find that students and emerging adults are simply seeking authentic relationship. All they are looking for is an older person who is committed to journey with them as they move into their next stage of life.

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Ready. Set. Wait???

Rick Zomer — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 18:00:00 +0000

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I don’t like airline travel. It isn’t because I’m afraid of flying, it’s because I’m annoyed by waiting. To me nothing is more frustrating than packing a bag, arriving at the airport at the recommended time, checking in and going through security, only to arrive at my gate to discover that the plane isn’t there. There’s nothing I can do but wait.

That description of airline travel is similar to the experience of many emerging adults and their attempt to stay connected to the church. Many of them have participated in everything the church offers: Sunday school, mission trips, youth group and profession of faith. They have “completed” everything the church has asked of them and many of them are looking forward to the next step in their faith journey. These emerging adults are eager to lead, to serve and to contribute to their church community in a meaningful way.

The problem is when they’re ready, the church often tells them to wait. They might be told to wait until they’re older, married, have kids or are “more settled” in their careers before assuming a position of influence or leadership in the church. These messages can be either directly or indirectly communicated to them but they are certainly received. Some of us “older” members of the congregation might feel that this is the way church is supposed to work, after all when we were that age we may have experienced the same thing. That being said, if we are also part of the church that looks around and asks where all the emerging adults have gone we should consider this question: maybe they got tired of waiting.

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Is There More To Supporting Student Mission Trips Than Writing A Check?

Rick Zomer — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 18:45:00 +0000

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My wife and I have been part of a small group for the last 20 years. We started out as five couples but the size of the group has grown to 22 as kids have entered our lives. As a result, I’ve been asked by several of them for support as they’ve gone on mission trips.

On some level, it’s an easy task: write a check and a young person has an experience that will impact their life. However, I began to ask what role I should play beyond simply providing funds. So, when the next kid from our group asked for support for her high school trip I agreed, but only if she agreed to meet with me when she got back. She agreed, and we met for coffee when she returned.

When we met I asked her two questions: what was her favorite part of the trip and what was she surprised by? Then I sat and listened. When she was done speaking, I told her what I had heard: that she loved the Christian community that developed on her trip and she loved working with kids. I confessed that I didn’t know what that might mean for her as she discerns what God is calling her to, but I hoped she’d consider her responses in that process.

I’m a big believer in mission trips and I do think they have the potential to change a young person’s life. That being said, if an adult’s involvement ends with writing a check, it seems to me the potential power of that experience in a young person’s life might be lost. After all, if I’m a young person and I’m told that a mission trip is important, wouldn’t it be important enough for an adult to ask me about it when it’s over?

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A Time For Reflection

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 18:36:35 +0000

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This magazine is probably landing in your mailbox in the midst of the beginning of a new ministry year. Youth groups are meeting after summer breaks, fall programs have started back up and summer can seem like a distant memory. As a result, the section of this magazine that might appear to be the most interesting is the preview of the SERVE 2020 theme. Let me encourage you to resist the temptation to jump straight to those sections that focus on next summer and instead, begin by spending some time reading the stories and testimonies from SERVE 2019.

This past year, over 1,400 individuals participated in SERVE at 23 sites across Canada and the United States. Students spent the week considering Paul’s message in Titus 2:14 to “Go Do Good.” They were challenged to reflect on how this verse could impact their life beyond their SERVE experience as they return to their homes, churches and schools. Now, they’re back in their communities and our prayer is that they are trying to discern how a SERVE experience impacts their day-to-day lives.

Many of you know one of these students. You may have encouraged them to attend SERVE, prayed for them before they left, organized a church fundraiser or written a check to cover registration costs. Their experience might not have been possible without the support you provided before their SERVE week.

Now that students are back home, the tendency might be to let their memories of summer 2019 fade into the background. You, too, might spend some time with this magazine, reading SERVE reflections, but the tendency may still be to shift focus to next summer and a new theme. Before that happens, let me encourage you to continue to support students you helped hear the challenge to “Go Do Good.” There are two articles in this magazine that can be used to help students reflect on how their summer mission experience might impact their lives. Look for ways to connect with a 2019 SERVE participant and use these resources to begin a conversation that helps them consider how their experience might deepen their faith in Jesus Christ and his call on their lives.

If no one asks a student about a significant experience in their life, they might assume it doesn’t matter and move on.

Rick Zomer

Executive Director

This is an excerpt from the Fall 2019 magazine

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Looking Forward to 2018

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 16:07:00 +0000

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It’s hard to believe SERVE 2017 is behind us and the planning for SERVE 2018 is under way!

We are excited to unveil the theme for SERVE 2018, Love God – Love the World, in this issue of the Youth Unlimited Magazine. In Luke 4:18-19 it says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Through our SERVE sites next summer, we long with great anticipation to see students discover Christ for the first time or in a fresh new way and then empower them to reflect his love in this broken world!

However, before we dive too far into SERVE 2018, we’ll take some time in this issue to reflect on a few of the moments of transformation that have already happened to students at SERVE. You’ll read about when the Holy Spirit moved in a student’s life at SERVE through the article SERVE Shoes and when the Holy Spirit visited a man living on the streets through a group of students in the article The Name of Love.

When you think about all the students who participate each summer, all the volunteers at each SERVE Site that plan the week and all the

adult leaders that take the students on a SERVE week, it is clear that God really does use SERVE to make a great impact on this world each summer.

Youth Unlimited is blessed to partner with you through SERVE to connect students with Christ, the Church and the Community.

Serving together,

Jeff Kruithof

This is an excerpt from the Fall 2017 magazine. To read more CLICK HERE.

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Pray Like it Depends on God

ThereforeGo Ministries — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 15:56:42 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from our summer magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

I’ve heard the saying, “You work like it depends on you and you pray like it depends on God.” I’m not sure about the theology of that statement, but it sure does reflect the past nine months of activity for Youth Unlimited.

The Youth Unlimited staff and our 28 SERVE teams are in full preparation mode for SERVE 2017. 1,500 students and leaders will converge at 28 host churches to serve their communities on behalf of God and that local church. Throughout their week, students will worship, study scripture, see a broken world in need of Christ and love the people in those communities. In the process, they will discover the Holy Spirit is also wanting to connect with them, often times changing the course of their lives forever!

When SERVE is done right, it is a win/win/win scenario for students, connecting them to Christ, the Church and communities. In this issue of the Youth Unlimited magazine, you will read stories of God’s blessing on each of those. You will also get a behind the scenes view of the preparation being put in by our SERVE teams in order to better create a space for those connections to be made.

Though I am already looking forward to sharing the amazing stories that develop through SERVE 2017, would you join me and the Youth Unlimited team in praying for the participants, churches and communities involved this summer? Would you pray for the participants to remain safe and in good health, for local churches to build lasting bridges to their communities, for spiritual growth and maturity of everyone involved and, most importantly, for Jesus Christ to be glorified through SERVE 2017?

We know SERVE can be an integral part of a student’s faith formation, and we look forward to the countless opportunities ahead for students to find God at their SERVE experiences. This is why we take our work so seriously, and, more importantly, this is why we depend on God.

Grateful to partner in ministry with you,

Jeff Kruithof

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The Battle is His

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 16:41:38 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from our Winter 2016 magazine. To view the whole magazine, click here.

I will never forget my first year of full-time youth ministry. It started in 1996, 20 years ago, with Youth For Christ! There were many first time experiences like leading a student through the plan of salvation and a summer youth group trip to Colorado with two students released to me from the local juvenile detention center. I look back on these years and have so many great memories and emotions, and 2015 was no exception.

This past summer, while visiting many of Youth Unlimited’s summer experiences, I found myself at a first time Serve site in Brighton, ON and experienced sites like Grand Rapids, MI and Port Perry, ON. I also found myself at the Special Needs site in Ottawa, ON and in Chicago, IL at the Live It convention. As I traveled, I experienced students worshipping, praying, serving, playing and reading scripture. I had a front row seat to the power of the Holy Spirit transforming student’s lives…what a blessing! But I must be honest; he was also working and transforming me.

If you have been in ministry in a paid or volunteer capacity, you, like me, can testify to the “highs” and “lows” of our calling. There are those mountaintop moments when we see that one special student make a decision that will forever positively change their life or when we get a turnout of students we never could have dreamed! However, there are also the results that are just the opposite, which can drive us into the valleys. I have certainly had many of both over the past 20 years! Through each of them, God continues to teach me life and ministry lessons. This past summer he reminded me that he is the one that changes student’s lives, not me or even Youth Unlimited experiences. The battle is his and, therefore, I need to give it back to him by putting the students and this ministry at the feet of my Lord through prayer!

As we step into 2016, let’s be sure to make Christ the center of our life and ministry. May it start with each of us personally and intentionally spending time at his feet in prayer and reading his Word. May it overflow from there into every aspect of our ministry.

God is good and worthy of praise! As you see his blessings, be sure to thank him. I would love it if you would also share it with the Youth Unlimited staff and I. You can do that by emailing me at jeff@youthunlimited.org.

Partners in ministering to students,

Jeff

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Join the Ripple

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 19:42:46 +0000

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Most people can point to a moment of impact that changed their lives forever. That moment of impact is the moment people begin to live, interact, see the world and believe differently. It’s not uncommon for an individual’s moment of impact to form a ripple effect, and further impact the lives of others, who then impact the lives of others and so on.

At Youth Unlimited, we’re continuously and gratefully amazed by the impact made for and by Christ at experiences like Serve and Live It. We’re blessed to have seen first-hand at these events the impactful moments in individual students’ lives and the ripple effect that stems from these moments into a beautiful tapestry of churches assisting churches, building the Kingdom of God.

Youth Unlimited’s Serve and Live It events are not about a one-week experience. They’re about the impact and the ripple effect that ensues. They’re about the student from London, Ontario who spends a week in Houston, Texas and returns home convicted of her call to share the gospel with her friends. They’re about the couple in California who saw the impact Live It made on their own children many years ago and how they’ve grown because of that impact, and continues to invest in the organization so that someone else’s children might be impacted similarly. They’re about the church in Holland, Michigan who returned home from their Serve experience in Washington D.C. and saw both the need and a way to meet the need in their own congregation/community for a food pantry.

Youth Unlimited’s Serve and Live It experiences are about the church, who helps the church, who helps the church, and so on, and that ripple can begin with the impact of a single student.

One Serve participant said, “To see the grateful faces of the many people we helped was eye-opening. It just goes to show that every small, helpful action can have an impact on someone’s life. This trip helped me realize that there are not only problems in places thousands of miles away, but that there are empty, longing hearts wanting to be filled right here in my own community.”

Another Serve participant reflected, “Through just this past week, I have found what it really means to be free—to be so free in Jesus Christ that I feel like I have to tell the world. Serve changed my life and got me back on track. Praise God!”

At Youth Unlimited, we’re humbled and blessed to play a role in creating a space for the ripple effect of impactful moments to begin. With your financial donation, you, too, can be a part of creating that space. You can help impact the course of a student’s life, who has the ability to impact his/her congregation and community in big ways, who have the ability to impact other congregations and communities as well.

Would you join the ripple with us and make an impact?

Humbled to make an impact with you,

Jeff Kruithof

Executive Director

Youth Unlimited

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Students | Churches | Faith-Forming Experiences

ThereforeGo Ministries — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 18:34:45 +0000

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The following is an excerpt from the Youth Unlimited Fall Magazine. To read more, click here.

Wow… where did that year go? With each passing year, I am forced to admit that my parents were right when they said, “the older you get the faster time flies”!

As we step into a new church ministry year, I’m praying God has refueled your passion for him and the students in your church and community! It is critical you have those in the right order—passion for Christ and then a passion for students. If those are in the reverse order, you will be ministering to students from your own strength and come this winter, you will be worn out, with a passion that went from a roaring fire to a few remaining embers. So please, start this year by investing in your relationship with Christ.

Our team has been working hard the past several months, preparing for the upcoming church year. We, again, have over 30 churches hosting Serve. The majority will be for high school age youth groups, but we will also have middle school and special needs sites too!

This past summer we assisted churches in a new way, customizing the Serve experience for those that maybe needed a shorter experience or the ability to broaden the age group to include younger and older participants. We’re glad to have been able to better serve churches in that way, and we look forward to continuing to meet the needs of more churches next summer as well.

The speakers and devotional material at each of our experiences next summer will be taking the students into the book of Mark, enabling students to encounter the person of Jesus Christ in very real ways during their time at Serve. Held in tandem with their ministry of service, relationships with peers and mentoring from small group leaders, this curriculum will allow students of all places in the walk of faith to meet more fully a Savior who humbly came to serve so that his love would be poured out for us!

As you begin making plans to get this ministry year kicked off, please remember that we are here for you! Our ministry exists to further the Kingdom with students, churches and faith-forming experiences, and we would welcome the opportunity to assist you in any way we can. So, whether you are in Canada or America or from somewhere between the east coast and west coast, we are here for you.

Humbled to serve you in ministry,

Jeff Kruithof

Executive Director

Youth Unlimited

PS – Youth Unlimited was blessed this summer to watch the Holy Spirit work in the lives of so many students through Serve and Live It! To read those stories and testimonies and see pictures, be sure to check out our blog, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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The Larger Story

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:10:00 +0000

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43,750 – this number has a story to tell – actually many stories – but they are only the introduction to a much larger story. These stories include themes of sacrifice, selflessness, inspiration, life change, pain, understanding, discipleship, faith, friends, fun, brokenness, challenge and more. These stories will give some hope, others joy and others peace!

So what does this number represent? It represents a small sampling of stories from Christian Reformed youth leading the Church, bringing redemption, restoration and the love of Jesus to people across Canada and the United States. 43,750 is the number of hours students gave in serving others in the name of Jesus through the Youth Unlimited Serve youth summer mission trip experiences in 2014. It’s a small sampling because it only represents 1,600 students from approximately 25% of the Christian Reformed Churches during one week of the summer.

Imagine if I had the number of students from the remaining 75% of CRC congregations who gave a week of service – that number could be 175,000 hours or even more, yet that still wouldn’t tell the whole story. Now imagine if I could add up all the weekly or monthly youth group service projects over the year (raking a widow’s yard, serving in a food kitchen for those on the streets, sorting clothes, leading Vacation Bible Schools, etc., etc., etc.)! Or even greater still, what if I could add up the number of times students served someone, not because of a youth group event or trip but just out of obedience and love for Jesus and others! God is working in and through our youth and we need to fan that flame!

On the contrary, I often read church and youth ministry articles and participate in conversations that focus on the challenging reality of “youth leaving the local church”. Those articles and conversations are based on reality. There are few youth in many local congregations across Canada and the United States. Youth Unlimited even sees it in the number of event registrations each year. While I am a firm believer in knowing and understanding all the facts and facing reality head on, it appears to me that our focus is mostly on the shrinking number of youth rather than on those who are engaged, invested and making a great impact for the Kingdom of Christ.

May we be a community of congregations with great hope and trust in our Lord and one that fans into flames the faith and work of his people, our youth. Let’s be quick to listen, offer an encouraging word, provide heart felt appreciation and allow them some freedom to speak into the future of the Church!

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Thoughts For Your Ministry

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 14:07:17 +0000

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In a recent issue of a Youth Ministry magazine, I read Ned Erickson’s description of a relational (youth ministry) economy…

A round of Frisbee golf = a month of meetings
A milkshake out = a month of meetings
A day hike, camping trip or a weekend retreat = a semester of meetings
A weeklong camp or mission trip = a year of meetings

Over the years, I’ve heard many youth leaders place a very high value on taking students away from home as part of their strategic plan to help students meet Jesus and become a more mature disciple of Christ. As someone who has spent his entire life after college involved in youth ministry, I completely agree. It seems that these youth mission trip, convention or camp type experiences have the ingredients needed for the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work in a student’s life. Maybe this is because students get taken out of their daily routines and distractions of life and are given time to read God’s Word and discuss it with others as well as pray, worship and even serve others! Imagine if we were given the space to do these things every day of our lives. What impact would that have on our work place, our families, our churches, our schools and world?

Each fall, the Youth Unlimited team is intentional about stopping to reflect on the student and leader testimonies from the Serve and Live It experiences. It’s so exciting, humbling and gratifying to read what the Holy Spirit did in their lives. God is so good! Here are just a couple of the many testimonies from this summer:

I was struggling so much with my faith in Christ, not feeling close to him or significant to him, but this week helped me remember that I am vital in Christ. God does not make mistakes, and he made me.

-Gallatin Valley Serve Student Participant

At the beginning, I thought I was just going to help someone, but in the end, I realized I learned so much about God and myself and about what it means to be someone with a disability. I really learned how through God’s eyes everyone is equal.

-Winnipeg Special Needs Serve Mentor

With this issue of the Youth Unlimited Magazine, my hope is you feel our heart and passion to serve and provide life and eternity changing experiences for your students. Be sure to also check out the 2014 Impact Report in the back.

As you find yourself in the middle of the youth ministry year, may your passion and commitment continue to be as strong as it was at the beginning!

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Dependence on God

ThereforeGo Ministries — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 18:26:39 +0000

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Sold. Our house had sold! My family and I were looking forward to moving closer to church and school, but there was a problem. We were struggling to find a house that fit our needs (and wants). We walked out the door of our home for the last time knowing we had three months to find something before we had to be out of our short-term rental. My wife and I were both well aware of how little time that was. God had plans however, and two weeks later he made available the home we had been praying for, and two months later we moved in. It was answered prayer and we knew this was where we were supposed to be, but God did it on his timeline and his message was clear. Trust me!

Have you had those times in youth ministry of being totally dependent on God? That place where you ask yourself, do I really believe God will come through? For some, that time is leading small group discussions. For others, it could be getting up in front of a large group to share a testimony, or taking students on a Serve teen summer mission experience or working through unmet expectations with parents or a pastor. Whatever brings you there, most of us might agree, it is often a place filled with fear and anxiety, and if we’re really honest, we might even admit it causes us to question how much can we really depend on him.

It is human nature to want to be in control, but listen to the words of Psalm 146: 3-6, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – the Lord, who remains faithful forever.”

Do you remember having a parent or friend tell you to fall backwards into their arms? It was scary, exciting and nerve wrecking all at the same time. If it was a parent, you knew they would catch you, but the fear was still there. When I play this game with my daughters there are times they can’t bring themselves to fall, even though I’m 100% confident I’ll catch them. When they don’t want to, I don’t get angry, but when they do, it makes me feel oh so good. I want to believe God feels something similar when we depend on him. He is probably not angry when we don’t fully trust him, but I’m sure he’s filled with joy when we do!

As the church calendar year comes to a close and transitions toward summer ministry and youth mission experiences begin, it is my prayer you have experienced the joy found in serving him through serving students and that you put all trust in him as your summer experiences begin.

As the childhood song goes . . . trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

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Who We Are in Christ

ThereforeGo Ministries — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:40:10 +0000

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For more than a year the staff of Youth Unlimited prepared for this past summer. We prayed that students who attended a Youth Unlimited experience would come to understand that what we do grows out of who we are in Christ, and that being in Christ changes us and our actions.

Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This Scripture was the focus of study at 27 Serve sites and at The Chicago Project in 2013. Last summer we were also grateful to roll out our second Live It experience. All total, approximately 2,000 youth and leaders sought to bring hope to a broken world with the love of Jesus Christ through one of our experiences.

We continue to pray that the work of their hands and the words of their mouths will ripple from the churches and communities they served outwards across North America and beyond. Please join us in praying that through their service the Holy Spirit will continue to move in the hearts of each student and will bring about a faith that impacts every aspect of their lives.

It is hard to believe that 2013 is now over and a new church ministry year is upon us, but it is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we remind you once again of our faith-forming experience opportunities for 2014! During these experiences students are going to dive in to the message of Isaiah 58. This Scripture and this year’s theme, Divine Normal: Kingdom Living By Mere Mortals, will confront apathy, empty religion and indifference to the needs of others. This is God’s call, his heart’s cry for his people, that they use their God-given potential to help those in need.

As youth workers responsible for assisting youth in their faith formation, please know that Youth Unlimited is here to help you. Much thought, many prayers, lots of work and hundreds of volunteers are eager to partner with you in the coming year.

The post Who We Are in Christ appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

Share Your Story

ThereforeGo Ministries — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:49:47 +0000

The post Share Your Story appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.

It was 4:00 PM, and I found myself sitting in the Arby’s on South Washington, my heart pounding, my hands shaky and my mouth dry as a cork. For the first time in my life I was inviting a student to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you were raised as I was, sharing your faith story or testimony with someone may be a foreign idea—something only done by missionaries. In 1 Peter 3:15 it says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

It’s easy to understand why sharing our faith can be a fearful experience. There is risk involved. We could be thought of as a fanatic, or perceived as thinking we are better than others, or accused of being judgmental, and yet Christ desires us to show and share his love to the world—in our case, to students.

Telling others about Jesus does not have to be scary, though. For example, if I asked you to tell me about the time you lost a loved one, or how you coped with being laid off, or how you survived a difficult class in school, I know you could, and I’m guessing you might even highlight how Jesus helped you through it. When we are able to walk alongside those (students) struggling with similar life experiences, there will be natural opportunities to share your story and Jesus’ role in it. In the context of a real, authentic relationship, sharing your life story gives your students (believing or unbelieving) glimpses of hope in a world devoid of hope apart from Jesus Christ.

Back at Arby’s . . . I’ll never forget his quick, yet monotone response: “No thank you.” What Lord? Really? NO? I stepped out in faith, was obedient, and this is what I get—a NO! How could this be? Later that evening I was reminded that I have the opportunity to tell others about Jesus, but he has the responsibility to change hearts. That young man had not said no to me; he had said no to Jesus. Thankfully, Jesus does not always accept our first responses. God had helped me to plant a seed in this young man’s life, and only God could bring that seed of faith to bear fruit in his perfect timing. Even though the student’s response was not the one I had been praying for, it was the most alive I had ever felt as a Christ follower!

This summer as you find yourself on a faith-forming experience like Serve or Live It, ask yourself if God has placed someone in the group that needs to hear about Jesus through your story. My guess is that the answer will be yes! I hope that the articles and information on the following pages will be a blessing to you as you prepare. It’s also my prayer that God will help you discern the Holy Spirit’s whispers this summer, and give you the boldness to step out in faith.

When God blesses you with the opportunity to help someone invite Jesus into their life, here are some Scriptures verses you might find helpful. Start by writing John 3:3,7 in the notes section of your Bible, and then go underline those verses. In the margin near John 3:7, write Romans 3:23, and then go underline that passage as well. Continue this process in order using the following passages: Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, 1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19, John 3:36, John 1:12, and Revelations 3:20. These are basic verses that will help your friend make an informed decision on whether on not to accept Jesus into their life. As you end with Revelation 3:20, “I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in,” you can ask if they want to invite Christ into their heart.

The post Share Your Story appeared first on ThereforeGo Ministries.