July! [Click to read the latest]

My heart is broken and tears stream from my eyes as I leave the detention center at Hampden and Wadsworth, people are rushing home from work and very impatient. I’m so lost in my thoughts at a light that I don’t turn when the light is shining green and a horn jolts me from my mental vacation. Every student I talked to today had a similar story, they either didn’t know their dad or their dad abused them or had some unhealthy relationship with them. Many of these students, sixteen or seventeen, are dads themselves and another generation on the path to not be around for their kids. I want to convey so convincingly that they have a Heavenly Father who has always been there for them and will never leave them or forget them. I want to reach over the table and give them a much needed hug [not really appropriate for a state juvenile justice system] and let them know that they have a friend who is always their for them and will always be listening.

One of the students I connect with just got a picture of his daughter, she is 2 months old now and the picture had to be taken when she was weeks old. She looks a lot like him, he is grinning from ear to ear and talking about how he is going to get out of the system and be the father he never had to her. He has plans to provide and goals to bring a solid foundation to their new family. I believe him as he talks with a new conviction to change because of the picture he holds.The sad part is, as I learn later from his case manager, his girlfriend gave their daughter up for adoption and the family that adopted her is out of state. He may never see his daughter again, and depending on who he puts his faith in when he is on the outs he may just turn back to his old way of living.

These students are shaped by their past and my hope is that they reshape their present lives through transformation through Christ to begin generations of families that love God, serve Him, contribute to their community which they live in, and become fathers that are intentional and purposeful to have healthy relationships with their children with the help of Christ.

A video with Denver Area YFC [with City Life and Teen Parents]

Many of the young people I work with have these incredible extremes in life. There home life is unpredictable, chaotic, and uncertain. Then they get caught making poor choices and move to this structured, regimented, and many quiet times with them in a room only hearing their own heart beat. I see these young people get tossed back and forth by the waves of life and they are unable to stand on their own two feet. But, over and over again I see them land on their feet, firm, solid, sure! When in the quietness of their room, they talk with THE ONE who saves them from this storm! It seems that when they are taken away from the noise, the storm, they have a clearer focus and direction! What they had been doing before is not working! They need a new leader, some one to give their life to! In those moments, Christ is so clear to them, He enters into their loneliness, their past...He becomes their HOPE! May Jesus calm the storm of our lives forever and ever! Amen!

The following is an excerpt from our National President of YFC/USA after hearing me talk at an event to potential supporters of our mission!

22 phone numbers…

Gareth is one of our YFC staff that works in juvenile detention centers. Our program in those places is known by the title Juvenile Justice Ministries. Staff serve as chaplains… as mentors… as friends… and always as committed followers of Jesus with a heart to reach the least and the lost.

Last month, Gareth relayed a story to me. It’s an unfinished story. In fact, it’s messy and burdensome, and laced with relational risk. The story is authentic.

A young man (I’ll call him Jake) who Gareth connected with four years ago in a detention center was the focus of the story. This young man has been in and out of various detentions centers. Gareth has invested in Jake with few guarantees there’s been peaks and valleys that accompany a genuine relationship with a fractured soul. And yes, he’s been disappointed. But Gareth doesn’t quit. In fact, he has a log of 22 phone numbers that Jake has used over the past four years. Like a Rolodex for a single individual, Gareth maintains a database of contact information for Jake. With incredible tenacity, Gareth models love… unconditional love… forgiving love… hopeful love… pursuing love.

Gareth is young and talented. Far from naïve, he understands full well that the statistics are stacked against him, but he pursues and challenges and believes nonetheless. His disappointments (and there have been many) don’t make him callus or cold. Instead they produce the fuel God uses to ignite a powerful and relentless love which races into the brokenness with conviction and calling.

22 phone numbers…

Enough confusion and chaos to make even the most compassionate quit. But not Gareth. Because of The Ultimate Pursuer. Our model. The inspiration. God, through Jesus, pursued… to the death.

Messy, complicated, frustrating stories are no match for The Divine Deliverer. Not 22 phone numbers… never.

It is just one of the many reasons I am proud to represent this work – this pursuit – called Youth for Christ. Thousands of ‘Gareths’ press into the lives of young people and press on in relationships when most others would retreat.

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 ESV

Your investment and partnership with us allows our staff to call one more number. In his quiet moments, Jake wonders… ‘Does Gareth really care?’ Because for Jake, that answers the question – does God really care?

And yes, God the pursuer really cares. For Jake, for Gareth, for you and for me.

Thank you for your support. We can’t do it without you.

Dan Wolgemuth, President/CEO

Youth for Christ/ USA

Disciples on a journey, it is constant growth, sometimes with the necessities and other times without. How resilient are we when we don't have everything we need to grow? Water is a need, the right nutrients are a need, sunshine...well, you get the picture. The youth I worth with in the juvenile facilities are pulled from the "soil" of life when they are "dying" and are cultivated in rich soil of attention and treatment and loving adults. Then when they are healthy they are transplanted back into communities and life that can "grow" them into unhealthy very quickly, unless they have their needs met. One need we have found to be successful in lifelong "growth" is one loving adult mentor. I am so fortunate and humbled be be working along side of a team that believes in investing themselves into young people, because they are loved. One young man just graduated with his G.E.D. which is the result of new fertile soil his life is now growing in. Once starved for needs, he now has relationship with one loving adult mentor who is living Life with a capital "L"! This young man is living loved in the Father and it is evident on the inside and out! Thanks for being on the team a partnering with us to transform the lives of young people!

So you know how they say God is good in the ups and downs of life?! Well this past week I have experienced that first hand! I ran my little Toyota Corolla into the back of an F-350 and the Ford truck won. All I could think about was the inconvience to all the travelers on the road, the guy I hit, the firefighter people, the paramedics, the police officer, and the first responder who all came to my rescue. Then I started thinking of all those that give to our family so faithfully and how I'm miss managing their sacrificial giving by getting into an accident. What truly humbled me was good friends who lent us their car for the week during our transition from crash car to different car. Then God's mercy and love entered my heart and the days to follow my actions and words.

Regret is a good teacher for me and I have learned so much about my Father during this, I've learned about myself, and other people! Much of the youth I talk with live with many regrets. Does it change their life? Their actions? Their hearts? Some can never forgive themselves. Some never ask for forgiveness for what they've done. Some have never received God's grace!

Later that week we receive a call from a good friend that asked if we had found another vehicle to replace the one I crashed. When we told her we were waiting to make a decision she replied with wait a little longer. Within 6 days we are in a new vehicle donated through this friend's church because of an email that went out from the pastor, who received an email or phone call about our situation! We do not deserve God's grace, that is why it is called grace, undeserved! And yet, let us not cheapen grace and take advantage of His death and resurrection. May we know Him more each day and love Him more each day!