YFC Camp: Kara

Kara is a young person searching for answers. She has tons of questions FOR God and ABOUT God. She never fails to ask the really tough questions of her leaders in her search of truth. 

When she first got connected to YFC, she was coming out of a tough situation at her school. She could no longer attend her school after a decision she made and was now bearing the weight of the consequences. So, she would sit with YFC staff members and work on school work, share a meal together, and talk about life. During those meals are where her questions really started to pour out. 

When Kara went to YFC Camp those questions didn’t end. One night after worship, when the girls gathered in their small groups, Kara had a breakthrough moment. She started opening up and talking about her relationship with God. She shared that she tries to go to God with her questions, but she feels like He’s not answering her. One of the camp leaders got to sit with her in that and in turn ask Kara some tough questions. She asked her to really reflect on where else God might be revealing Himself to her. She shared that sometimes God might not answer you in how you think or want to be answered. By the end of the night, they prayed and Kara gave her life to Christ. 

YFC Camp wasn’t what started Kara’s search for God, but it was a pivotal moment for her in her relationship with the Lord. For Kara, YFC Camp really was where everything changed. 

Give the Gift of Camp today.

YFC Camp: Ben

Ben grew up knowing about God, but his faith was challenged and stretched when he faced an unforeseen circumstance in his life. He was dealing with anger, pain, and questioning why God would allow something so tragic to happen to his family. He started to make decisions that were leading him more and more down a path away from God. 

BUT GOD…

During the week of YFC Camp, Ben’s faith was renewed. YFC Camp served as a “halting point” for him to refocus on Jesus and to see he has been with him all along. He bonded with some of the other guys on the trip and got to see first-hand that he was not alone. It also helped him realize that others look to him as a leader, and that he needs to focus on how Jesus lead others. One YFC staff member said this about Ben, “He’s a born leader who has lots of zeal and love for others.” 

Ben’s leadership really shined at the end of YFC Camp. Students had the opportunity to get up on stage in front of their peers and share anything that God was pressing on their hearts; Ben was one of the first ones up there. He opened up about where he was at and encouraged others in the room. His vulnerability made space for others to feel open enough to share too.

YFC Camp helped Ben take a hard stop and put his eyes back on Jesus. At the end of the week Ben said, “...this camp was exactly what I needed.”

A Day of Men's Ministry

By Adam Palmer

The first Man Up event was hopefully the beginning of a wonderful collaborative men’s ministry at Stateline YFC. We had young men present from our Campus Life, JJM, and City Life ministries as we joined forces to enjoy a day of fun-filled activities all about Godly manhood.

Assistant Deputy Chief Joel Givens provided fishing equipment and expert fishing lessons for all of the youth, several of whom had never been fishing before. Herb Page attended on behalf of the Kiwanis Club of Rockford and coached one young man who would catch the biggest fish of the day among the youth. My father-in-law, Mark Lee, gave lessons in fish cleaning, fish cooking (Yum!) and archery. I was so touched and honored to see my father-in-law, who I admire greatly, the same man who taught me to shoot a bow, sharing his knowledge with these youth. We also had stations of paintball target shooting and building a cross from 4x4s. All of these activities had scriptural lessons attached to them about living as successful Christian men.

The best part, by far, was the wonderful evening cookout by the bonfire. We had amazing fellowship as we ate our catch, as well as burgers and hotdogs off the grill. The night concluded with a panel discussion where I asked questions to Ministry Directors from the YFC staff: JR, Cory, Tyrone, Olle, and expert, Mark Lee. The younger guys were hanging on to every word. You could tell that they benefited greatly from the wisdom being shared. One youth was touched to the point of weeping. We heard statements like “I can’t wait to do this again, we need this so much.” After spending time with ADC Givens, one youth said “I look at police completely different now. He was a good guy.”

It was beautiful. The weather was predicted to be awful, and God blessed us with a perfect day. It was probably one of the best days of ministry I have ever been a part of. I am beyond grateful for our God, our team, our volunteers, the donors, the youth, and everyone who made this happen.

In faith,

Adam

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

More than a Campaign

Young people are craving authenticity and to feel known. But the world they are living in is pulling them apart - digitally, socially, politically, spiritually. Instead of feeling known, they are feeling detached, isolated and anxious. This season is no exception. We’re more divided, isolated, and overwhelmed with issues than ever.

Every young person needs to know they are not alone and that someone is for them, especially now. 

This is why we exist — for over 75 years, Youth for Christ has been connecting people who love Jesus with young people who don’t know Jesus — and we are seeing transformation happen.

We do that by meeting young people where they are - in schools, in their neighborhoods, and in detention centers. We mobilize people who love Jesus to engage youth in transformational relationships. And, we raise up young people as lifelong followers of Jesus who lead in their community.

You can be a part of this by joining our WE BELIEVE IN YOU(TH) campaign today and letting young people know you are for them and you’re ready to go all out for their future. Young people need Jesus, and they need us.  Show the young people of our community that you are for them. 

Get involved by: 

1. Praying for our youth 

2. Watching and sharing the We Believe in You(th) Banquet video

3. Donating to the campaign 

4. Serving at Stateline YFC 

5. Encouraging the youth in your life

Our Reflection to the World: Enduring Humility

By Olle Larson

In many ways, an organization’s culture should be like a well-composed culinary dish, where all of the ingredients of the dish complement one another and the flavors are perfectly balanced. At Stateline Youth For Christ, our goal is that the youth we serve would taste Christ’s love for them through our ministry. To help them taste Christ’s love, a key ingredient in our organizational culture is enduring humility. But what is the proper flavor profile of enduring humility, especially when our zeitgeist’s cultural ethos promotes the elevation of one’s self and a hyper attentiveness to “me and my rights?” In other words, what does it look like for us to practice enduring humility in the Stateline area today? 

In order for us to truly embody and reflect enduring humility in our ministry, it requires each of us to recognize that…  

1. Enduring Humility begins with seeing our true reflection in God for what it is.

In 2021, it is very easy for us to run from our true reflections and become lost in the elevated self-image we want others to see. Perhaps the easiest place to see this is our social media platforms. On Facebook, we can have the picture-perfect family and portray ourselves as the impeccable significant other, parent, or even grandparent. On Twitter, our thumbs dish out “expert” hot takes in 280 characters or less. Even our Tik Tok account provide us with the opportunity to win “Entertainer of the Year” in our social circles. In the chase for comments, likes, and followers, we often construct a carefully manicured, idealized, and elevated self-image with “me, myself, and I” as the central gravitational force of our lives. 

And yet when God enters the frame, a Copernican revolution rocks our carefully constructed universes. The famous pastor-theologian John Calvin once eloquently stated that “we must infer that man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty” (1). At the same time, C.S. Lewis once penned that “in God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all” (2). The point these two theologians make is that once we experience God for who He is, we begin to see ourselves more clearly for who we truly are. This mutual knowledge between knowing God and ourselves is foundational for enduring humility because it makes us aware of our own insignificance and messiness.

Thus, the first step in embodying enduring humility is recognizing our reflection in God and embracing its messiness and our own insignificance. When we take the time to peer into the mirror of Scripture, God’s self-communication of Himself to us, we discover not only that we are God’s image bearers but also begin to recognize the ugliness of our fallen condition and our inability to affect our own rescue (Gen. 1:26-3:24; Eph. 2:1-3; Rom 1:18-3:20, 3:22-23).

At the same time, Scripture marvelously declares the immensity of God as the holy and sovereign creator and ruler of the Universe and His graciousness as the one who rescues creation from the fall and redeem us from our sins through person and work of Jesus Christ, His Son, so that we might be called sons and daughter of God (Gen. 1:1-27; Job 38-41; Ps. 2; 95; Isa. 45:7-9; Matt. 10:29-31; Jn. 1:9-13; Col. 1:16-17; Eph. 2:4-10; Rom. 8:1-17; 11:33-36)! Once we grasp our reflection against God’s reflection in Scripture, our own self-importance and self-centeredness only begins to melt away, and we see our true self starring back at us in the mirror. In seeing our true reflection, it should lead us to conclude with C.S. Lewis that “the real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether” (3). Which brings me to our second point…    

2. Enduring Humility has no time to think about our own humility.

While embodying enduring humility begins with recognizing our prideful tendencies and seeing our lowly status against God’s majesty, these things should push us beyond a mere acceptance of these truths into a particular way of thinking. Once again, C.S Lewis is both witty and informative about the mindset of those seeking to embody enduring humility. According to Lewis:

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call humble nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody…[the truly humble person] will not be thinking about humility; he will not be thinking of himself at all” (4).

In other words, the person who models enduring humility will be so paradoxically preoccupied with something else, that he or she won’t have time to think about whether or not that individual is truly humble. But what then becomes the preoccupation of those seeking to model enduring humility?

In this case, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians is informative and completes the logic of Lewis’ insight. In his appeal to the Philippians to maintain their unity as a body of believers, Paul provides both the Philippian church and us today with the most crystalized depiction of enduring humility. Enduring humility does “nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit.” Enduring humility “values other above yourselves” (Phil. 2:3 NIV). Finally, enduring humility does not look only to our own interest but also to the interests of others (Phil 2:4). Thus, the reason the truly humble person has no time to think about his or her own humility is because he or she is too busy being focused on others. Yet, what does it look like for the mindset of enduring humility to actually be lived out in our relationships with those around us? If we track a little further with the Apostle Paul in this letter, we discover that…

3. Enduring Humility imitates Christ’s humble servanthood and reflects it to others through sacrificial service.

For the Apostle Paul, as well as any other Christian, Christ is the ultimate example of enduring humility that we try to emulate in our relationships with others. In expounding on the example of Christ, Paul reminds both the Philippian church and us today that Jesus, aka the Second Person of the Trinity/God, did not even consider His own divine status something to be exploited for His own advantage but became a humble and obedient servant for the benefit of others (Phil. 2:6-8 CSB)!! A clear example of this humility and servant-nature is when Jesus, the disciples’ teacher, reversed his role and washed the feet of his disciples, an act so offensive that Peter at first refused and barred Christ from doing this to him (5). Yet the ultimate example of His humility and servanthood was His death on a cross and redeeming God’s people from their sins in total submission to the Father’s will, despite the fact that he was totally undeserving of bearing this punishment (Phi. 2:8). 

Paul’s point in rehashing Christ’s humility and servanthood for the Philippians (and by extension us today) is that Christ is the gold standard of enduring humility. In fact, Paul exhorts us and the Philippians to emulate this example by having “the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). As a result, the person seeking to embody enduring humility, imitates Christ, by humbling oneself, serving others sacrificially, and letting God glorifying him or her in His own time.

The Flavor Profile of Enduring Humility

Now we are in a position to examine the flavor profile of enduring humility that will go into the dish that makes up Stateline Youth For Christ’s culture. Enduring humility has a strong and distinct flavor profile. The first thing that hits the tip of the tongue is the distinctly sour recognition of one’s prideful, self-centered tendencies and lowly status when contrasted with God’s majesty that initially puckers one’s lips. In the back of your throat you are hit with an acknowledgement that enduring humility has no time to think about you own humility because the eventual flavor that dominates is an imitation of Christ’s humble servanthood that is reflected to others through sacrificial service.

Bon Appétit

O.T. Larson II.    

Sources

1.  John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, Library of Christian Classics, vols. 20-21 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960) I.1.3

2.  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 124.

3.  Lewis, 125.

4. Lewis, 128 

5. Today it may seem odd that Peter refused to have Jesus wash his feet, especially when it has been adopted in wedding ceremonies today as a symbol of serving one another. In the ancient world, foot washing was typically reserved only for slaves and was a very demeaning task as one’s feet were typically crusted in filth. Perhaps the closest equivalent for today would be wiping someone’s backside after relieving one’s self. Edward Klink III, John, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, vols. 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 577-578. 

Addressing the Mentoring Gap

“One in three young people will grow up without a mentor outside their family. This is the mentoring gap in America.”

— The Mentoring Effect 2020

By Zabrina Ramirez

YFC USA recently shared a report that explored young people’s perspectives on mentoring. This report found that of the estimated 24 million at-risk* young people in our country, there are “an estimated nine million at-risk youth who will reach age 19 without ever having a mentor” (Bruce and Bridgeland 3).  Nine million young people without a mentor is a staggering number, especially when you consider everything that young people are facing today. 

Collectively, we are moving into another year of experiencing a worldwide pandemic. Not to diminish the weight of the situation, but you may remember another pandemic that our JJM Mentoring Director, J.R. Flannigan, brought to attention at last year’s banquet. He said, “I’ll be honest with you. Our city has had a virus for a long time now, and that virus pretty much consists of young people being involved with violence and crime.”

We believe that our young people’s stories do not end there. They are not just another statistic, but rather a child of God, just like you and just like me. 

It’s time to remove the old idea that the youth in our city are problems to be solved; they are to be loved and cared for. In an interview with faculty members from The Fuller Youth Initiative they discussed shifting the approach from “what’s wrong with youth,” to focusing on the potential of youth. They said,

When I think about some developmental resources that can be promoted in the church, I am thinking primarily about adults investing in young peoples’ lives in the form of mentoring, being connected to good role models, and that they have opportunities for involvement in meaningful activities that will develop their capacity for leadership (Bjørdal). 

Through engaging youth in authentic, Christ-sharing relationships (ACSR’s) we are investing in their lives by sharing the Gospel and helping to bring more opportunities for youth to develop their gifts that God has already given them. At Stateline YFC we have set the goal of engaging 1,000 kids through these ACSR’s across the Stateline area from 2021-2025. We believe that young people’s lives will be forever changed when they encounter true experiences with God. This trickles down from impacting one life to impacting many lives. Mentoring as a whole has the ability to address challenges that we’re facing in our region and in our nation:

At the local, state, and national levels, mentoring should be leveraged as a key tool to address the pressing issues facing the next generation. When integrated into national initiatives, mentoring strengthens efforts to reduce poverty, truancy, drug abuse and violence, and promote healthy decision-making, positive behaviors, and strong futures. (Bruce and Bridgeland 8).

Let us all continue to see our youth as beloved children of God, and not the problems of our community.  If you feel the nudge to join us in some way: in prayer, as a potential ministry leader, or a giving partner, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at info@statelineyfc.org. 

---

*It’s important to note how at-risk youth is defined in this study: “For purposes of this survey, an at-risk youth is a respondent who is at the time of taking the survey disconnected (out of school and out of work) and/or responds “yes” to any of the risk factors reflected in the survey screening tool that are linked to decreased rates of achieving “productive adulthood”: incarcerated parent or guardian, regular absenteeism, poor academic performance, behavioral problems in school, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and homelessness.” (Bruce and Bridgeland 13-14)

Sources

Bjørdal, Maria. “A new perspective on at-risk youth.” Interview with Dr. Sofia Herrera Maldonado. Fullerinstitute.org, 13 June, 2006, https://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/a-new-perspective-on-at-risk-youth. Accessed 2021. 

Bruce, Mary, and John Bridgeland. “The Mentoring Effect: Young People’s Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring.” Mentoring.org, January 2014. 

The Mentoring Effect. (2020, September 10). Retrieved February 02, 2021, from https://www.mentoring.org/resource/the-mentoring-effect/

At NextSteps, We are Family

NextSteps is a program of the Juvenile Justice Ministry here at YFC. Our vision for NextSteps is to bring restoration to youth involved with the justice system by inspiring hope through relationships and new opportunities. We do this by building new relationships and strengthening existing relationships with at risk young people through holistic support from a positive caring adult. 

Our time together includes playing games, tutoring, team building, sharing a dinner together, teaching a biblical lesson, having small group discussions, and sometimes hosting speakers. Along with our NextSteps group meeting, we also have one-on-one mentoring times. 

At NextSteps, we focus on introducing youth to new and different life experiences outside of their norm. Something like cutting down a Christmas tree can be taken for granted by most, but can be a whole new memory for some of our youth. 

We recently started up NextSteps again, and have had 8-10 students regularly coming each week. We’ve played games, ate a meal as a family, and delved into God’s word together and discussed some tough life questions in small groups. This is where trusting relationships are being cultivated and life goals are encouraged and attained. 

In this giving season, consider blessing this amazing group of young people with a meal at their weekly NextSteps meeting on Monday nights. Email us at info@statelineyfc.org if you want to get involved. 

Welcome to YFC: Olle Larson

We’re excited to welcome Olle Larson to the YFC team! Olle is our Director of Operations which means he makes sure that ministry is well supported and running smoothly. His job primarily revolves around financial management, human resources, event planning, and other administrative tasks.

Olle grew up on a farmette just south of Belvidere and graduated from Belvidere High School. He received his Bachelor of Arts in both History and Psychology at DePaul University and is currently pursuing his Masters of Divinity (MDiv) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and will graduate in May.

He now lives with his wife Kelley of 7.5 years here in Rockford. For fun they like to spend time together and look for new places to visit. Olle also reads, A LOT. When he's not reading you might find him snowboarding, fishing, learning to love golf, or trying new foods.

When asked what his impression was so far of working at Stateline YFC he said:

“The staff is very personable and friendly, as well as highly adaptable and creative as we try and navigate this pandemic. I love the ways we are utilizing this time to think creatively about doing ministry now during a pandemic as well as looking to the future."

Welcome to the YFC Family Olle!