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!

I've been working with a lot of gang members lately...listening to them and trying to understand why they "bang", a term they use when they are part of a gang. Recently I was having a conversation with the son of one of the originals of a prominent gang, which means this young man's dad started this gang here in Denver. He doesn't live with his dad and feel s like he has betrayed him, but loves his mom and doesn't want to disappoint her. If he lives the way his mom wants him to live he will not follow his dad's "way of life" and feels he will be letting his dad down. He longs for his dad to be proud of him and love him, but that means following the gang life, there is "family" there too he says. But he loves his mom and doesn't want to disappoint her! He wants to be himself but has a reputation on the streets and in jail already as the son of...he struggles between good and evil moment by moment everyday! I struggle between good and evil moment by moment every day! I love my family, pictured above are my sons! I love them so much that I will raise them as Christ wants me to raise them, wanting the best for THEM, not having them live for me their dad, but for Christ who is the ultimate reason to live!

Have you ever been told you are not wanted? With a shrug and no emotion, (Nate) told me his parents had both said that to him. I'm devastated inside for him, he has put his walls, not feeling, not showing how he feels for fear of being rejected again. I lean over the table we are sitting across from each other and say, "God wants you, He loves you, he'll never leave you, he hurts when you hurt, and he longs to heal all of your pain!" Tears flow from once a hard heart, but the Holy Spirit has been working on his life long before I came into it. My Father wants to redeem all those that are defeated, broken, and hard-hearted! (Nate) has been pushing others way for fear of being hurt again. It will take time for him to trust again and he really doesn't even trust our friendship that has just started and doesn't want to get too close for fear that I will let him down. I let him know right up front that I will let him down, but his faith is not in humans but in Christ. My best friend, Jesus, has never let me down. Even when my perspective is messed up, Jesus brings me back to the truth that there is nothing I can do to make him love me more or less. He loves me because God first loved me! I cheapen grace when I think it is what I do that makes God love me. (Nate) has started a new journey of not being the victim of his parent's words, but walking in freedom of Christ's words!

The picture above, a friend of mine took on his canoe trip, is the ultimate visual of peace and tranquility. All the young people I work with have chaos and the picture of their life is painful, volatile, and devestating. I've been reading Mother Teresa's biography lately and she dedicated her live to the sick, the orphans, and the widows. 9 out of 10 young men have not had a father in their life or a uninvolved father. The young ladies that are incarcerated have been left by boyfriends and have been widowed in a way, left alone to take care of a baby. We are broken individuals in need of the One who puts things back together! I'm grateful that the chaos created in young peoples lives that are incarcerated have been and continue to be transformed by the love of Christ. Thanks for being a part of this team. Continue to pray for youth in Denver and the front range of Colorado.