March Update...

Young Life in South County consists of four different clubs/ministries. First, we have our typical Young Life Club for kids at SJHHS, Tesoro, Dana Hills, and J Serra. We also have 2 WyldLife clubs for middle school kids at Ladera Middle School, and Marco Forster Middle School, lastly we have our Capernaum Club, for kids with special needs that serves all of South Orange County. In each of these clubs, the mission is the same: introduce kids to Jesus and help them grow in their relationship with him. This month all four clubs were busy loving kids in the name of Jesus, and providing places where kids can come,  be known and loved right where they are, as they are, and hear the Gospel in a way that relates to them. From eating Nachos while watching Nacho Libre, to getting crazy at Big Air, to trading a penny for a unicycle, to playing kick-ball while wearing wacky costumes, kids from all different places and walks of life got to experience the love of Jesus this month through Young Life in South County. Keep reading for an update and pictures from each club...

Young Life SJHHS/Tesoro

The annual All OC YL Dodgeball Tournament was earlier this month. It was so fun. One of our teams took home third, and all the guys had a blast! It was so cool seeing several hundred kids from Young Life clubs all over Orange County have such a great time together! Nachos with Nacho was a great night! A bunch of big school kids came over to Casa de Bright and scarfed on nachos while watching Nacho Libre. Hannah and I got dressed up as wrestlers and started the night off with an epic thumb wrestling tournament. It was a fun night, and we had several new kids come out, including a few new girls! For our Young Life club we have been continuing with Campaigners, and its been great getting into the Bible with everyone. We have been looking at how Jesus said that the most important thing was loving God and loving your neighbor like you love yourself. Kyle has been exploring some of the different implications of this, and has been showing how Star Wars can really help us understand parts of the Bible! Its been great being able to eat and hang together, get into the Bible and hear from Kyle, and then split up into smaller groups and talk about life.

Capernaum

The Capernaum club is seeing some excitement these last few weeks! At the end of last month they went to Big Air and had an absolute blast! About 10 kids came, and a few new faces. Each of these kids got to have a really good time with leaders and friends that truly care about them. It was great to get to talk with parents, most of whom are fairly new to the ministry, about how excited and thankful they are to have a great social activity for their kids to come to.  As we move forward next year, we are looking to move towards a more inclusive model of ministry for Capernaum and Young Life in South County. Rachel and I have a deep desire to see kids with and without special needs come together, have a blast, learn from each other, love each other, and show off the Kingdom of God in a unique way. While Young Life, and even Capernaum, is absolutely for kids that have yet to meet Jesus, we think having an inclusive ministry will be something that will attract kids from both sides, and brings kids to Jesus' feet.

Marco WyldLife

Talk about having fun! Marco WyldLife has been such a blast this month. Because of difficulties getting permission to meet at the park across from Marco on Tuesday mornings, we have moved to meeting every other Tuesday night... and it has really been a great club! We have been growing, and the excitement is through the roof!  At our first club of the month, we had a kid from Syria come out. He ended up loving WyldLife and when the family that brought him to club dropped him off at his house, they were invited in for tea! This kid has loved WyldLife so much that he asked the mom who brought him to club the first time to write in a calendar all the days that there was WyldLife so he would never miss it. Who knows what God is doing here, but it is awesome to get to be a part of it!

Ladera Ranch WyldLife

As always, WyldLife has been busy in Ladera Ranch! Aside from the weekly meetings at Founders Park on Friday mornings, they have had a costume kick-ball club, and a fashion show club! Things are always fun and whimsical for WyldLife Ladera. One of the coolest new developments for the Ladera club is that there are now two amazing girl leaders, Shay and Kara. While Shay has been a great leader for the past year, Kara is new, but comes from Young Life in Irvine, and is incredible. A couple weekends ago, they took a group of girls hiking. For so long Ladera has been mostly a boys club, but now, with Kara and Shay, its exciting to see some really cool things happen for the girls!

March has been such a great month and there is more to look forward to in the coming months. For the next few months we will be focussing a good amount of our attention to getting kids to camp. The hope and prayer this year is that we will send over 60 kids and leaders to two different camps this summer. The WyldLife groups will be going to Oakridge July 26-31, and Young Life and Capernaum will be going to Woodleaf August 1-7. If you are reading this and know some kids who would love to have the best week of their lives with us, please pass this along!

Our Week at Oakbridge!

This summer's Oakbridge trip was easily one of the best camp trips I have ever been a part of. From the kids all getting along, to the leaders doing an absolutely amazing job, to the camp staff… it was incredible.

We took 19 kids this year, and of those 19, 6 kids said "yes" to Jesus for the first time ever, and 10 kids rededicated their lives to Jesus that week. 

Please watch the following video and take a look at the pics to get a glimpse at what a week at WyldLife camp looks like! We will be going to winter camp this November 20-22, and then back again next summer (we will let you know the dates ASAP)!

About to have one of the best weeks of our lives!

Matthew meeting one of the WIlderness Explorers!

Mixers the first night.

The boys slept out under the starts the first night… it was awesome!

The food at Oakbridge is sooo good!

Unity game uniforms!

Again, that camp food is so good, Jack agrees!

Protect your leader… Matt was pretty dry compared to the other guy!

All camp pic! I see a lot of yellow!

The leap of faith.

Leaders got ruined at the carnival… so fun!

Grant, Matthew, and some pantyhose!

Max, having a blast at the messy games!

Spencer, about to do damage ith some shaving creme!

Best messy games ever!

Everyone had a blast!

Don't mess with Michele when it comes to card games!

Midnight dance party!

Water games!

Failed attempt at a human pyramid.

The high dive was a highlight! Natalie getting wild!

Archery! Kieron's got some great form!

Tyler G with the bull's eye!

The game room!

The ropes course was rad.

Spencer soaring down the zip-line.

The girls doing some awesome freestyle walking at the skatepark. 

Guys had epic pillow fights the last two nights!

Saying "YES" to Jesus!

Such a wonderful week!

Move Me Like the Ocean- Kyle Reynolds

Kyle Reynolds is one of our awesome Wyldlife leaders. 

He is also a very talented musician. 

Kyle is leaving this next year to work on music full-time. 

Kyle recently wrote a song that was inspired by his Young Life story. 

I asked him to write up an explanation on how the song came about. Below is his response.....

"Young Life has been apart of my life ever since I can remember and I've recently been fortunate enough to start leading music at Young Life camps. After seeing so many kids lives changed last year while playing music at Oakbridge, whether it was during "Say So" or just talking to kids throughout the week and seeing the Lord totally change their hearts, I was inspired to write this song. This song is about the kid  who is sitting in the back of the club room. This song is about me, you, and the person who has decided to go all in regardless of what is ahead and what they've been through. I hope this song can be sung and listened to as a prayer asking God to move us like the ocean. I want to step out of my comfort zone and allow God to fill me up with His strength and courage; and not rely on my own. In the chorus it says Move Me Like the Ocean, Move Me Like the Ocean, I still have my doubts, but it's time to step out in the ocean. I think this is something we can wake up every morning and ask the Lord. Everyday we have the choice to step out in the ocean, the unknown, and trust the Lord. All we have to do is say yes."

The lyrics to the song are below along with a link to his iTunes account. 

This month proceeds from the song will go back to Young Life. So take a moment and check out Kyle.

MOVE ME LIKE THE OCEAN

I know there’s  more to this at least that’s what I’ve been told

I feel alone and I’m so sick of it I need a place to call home

Can we forgive our past, lets go and not look back

move me like the ocean

Ocean

without a doubt you’re pulling me out of the ocean

Clouded by racing thoughts, I feel so far away

Told myself I’m doing fine, but was that just another lie to say

Can we forgive our past, lets go and not look back

move me like the ocean

Ocean

without a doubt you’re pulling me out of the ocean

move me like the ocean

Ocean

without a doubt you’re pulling me out of the ocean

Move Me Like the Ocean

-Dave

Marco Club Takes Over Camp!

What a weekend. We had the pleasure of bringing three boys and five girls to three days of crazy fun at Oakbridge Wyldlife camp. Along with a lot of fun and laughs we were lucky enough to engage in discussion about who Jesus is and what he's done for us.between the ping-pong and foosball and pool table and air hockey and skate park we definitely had our hands full but we took it all on and had a blast. Our Wyldlife camp is nestled in the hills of Ramona California just perfectly set the stage to let these kids our friends process life and questions about who Jesus is without any distractions that they would have at home. No phones, no computers, no TV, no Internet, just good old-fashioned fun.

D-MAR

Ladera Goes to Winter Camp

What a great crew... what a great weekend!

This weekend was Winter Camp! I can say that it was the best winter camp I have ever gone to, not only because the camp was great, the food was good, and the people running the program were amazing, but the kids and leaders we brought were the best! It was a weekend I won't soon forget!

Octoball got crazy!

Oakbridge is a very special place. It's not the typical semi-rugged youth camp... but more like "Club-med" for middle school kids! The place was built just for them, and everything, from the octoball court, to the skate-park, to the fields, to the room for club... everything was built just for them. 

The songs at club were awesome!!

For a lot of the kids, this was their first time at Oakbridge, and for some of them, it was their first time going to "club." Since we haven't been able to find a place big enough to host us in Ladera this year, we haven't been able to have "club," but we did at camp, and it was awesome! From the songs to the games, to the funny skit guys, to Sullivan teaching about Jesus' love, it was amazing! The program was seriously one of the best I have ever seen.

Taylor got to go mattress surfing!

Mackenzie and Jack chucking cheese puffs at a leader.

Club was awesome

The 6th graders got shacked

A part of what makes camp so special is that it gives kids a chance to get away from normal life, and out of their "comfort-zone" while making sure they are still safe, and even comfortable. They are treated like they matter, and they can tell that everyone at camp really cares about them.

Dog-pile Andy!!

Pic with Mrs Santa for scavenger hunt

The first night started with club, and then a pizza party at 10pm! After we got to go back to our cabins and talk about what Sullivan had shared in club about Jesus. These are called "cabin times" and they happen after every club. Its a time for leaders and kids to go back to their cabin and reflect on what they just heard at club. 

Group selfie at the archery range

The first night Sullivan talked about how we all come to camp with a picture of what Jesus is like. Some think of him as a Santa Jesus, others as a Police Jesus, others as their Homeboy Jesus, and others as a far away, distant Jesus. Sullivan talked about how Jesus was so much more than any of those, and how we can come and get to know him. She shared about Zacchaeus, and how even though everyone hated him because he was cheating them out of their money, Jesus sought him out and had dinner with him at his house. Jesus isn't like what we would expect, he is so much more, and when we have an encounter with him, it changes us... it makes us better us'.

Jail break... Brandon got into it!

Henry and Matthew thought the food was awesome!

The next club, Sullivan talked about the difference between "sins," or bad behavior, and "sin." So often this is something that people miss-understand, or as Sullivan talked about, miss-diagnose. Sin is separation from God. Its not trusting that God loves us and is taking care if us. Sins are a symptom of this, but if we just treat the behavior, or the symptoms, we don't get down to the root cause and nothing gets better.

Sullivan shared about getting diagnosed with Lyme Disease early this year, and how she had been sick for 8 years, but doctors kept treating her symptoms instead of looking for what was causing them and nothing got better... she just kept getting more sick. She compared this to the story of the "Bleeding Woman" in Mark 5:21-43. In this story Jesus is asked by a man who was extremely important to come and heal his daughter, as he was on his way to this guys house he got held up by a woman. This woman had been sick for 12 years, and spent all she had on doctors who were not able to figure out what was wrong with her. As soon as she touched Jesus, she was immediately healed. Jesus knew something happened and stopped to hear this woman's story. Even though he was on his way to do something important with someone important, he stopped for this woman that no one cared about and then took the time to listen to her story. That is what Jesus is like, and he does the same with us. He can heal the deep sickness that we have, and he can fill the longing that every human on earth has. We were created to long for a relationship with God, and we will never be completely satisfied until we are in it.

All camp tug-of-war!

The start of the messy games

It got crazy!

The next club Sullivan talked about God's rescue plan for us. It was awesome seeing kids respond to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for them because he loved them, and that he would have done it just for them. In the 6th grader cabin time that night, a few of the kids started talking about how they couldn't believe that Jesus loved them that much. They couldn't believe that Jesus stayed on the cross when he could have gotten off at any time.

Andy

Henry took some shaving creme to the face

Grace, Taylor and Natalie had a blast!

Aside from the club talks and cabin times, these kids got to be exposed to Jesus' love through their leaders, and the staff at Oakbridge. They got to do things, like through flour bombs and chicken feed at each other, and then watch their leaders be super silly.

Caitlin and Kailey got worked!

Tyler was into it

Matt and Riley came out clean as a whistle... or not.

Everyone had fun!

This pool looked so inviting... but it was about 50 degrees!

It didn't stop kids or Grant from going off the diving boards!

Mackenzie did a cannon ball off the high dive!

Frisbee golf was a huge hit

Hunting for rams.

Little sunset adventure

Sometime you just don't use your hands to eat dessert

At the end of the weekend they were given the chance to say "yes" to Jesus and begin a life-long relationship with him. Sullivan talked about how Jesus didn't stay dead, but came back to life. She also talked about how Jesus will love them no matter how they respond to him. Even if they say no, Jesus loves them the same and will never stop pursuing them.

Jade got to pie Grant in front of everyone!

Russian Ribbon Dancers... From Russia

This guy was awesome... especially when he would play Taylor Swift

Sullivan was amazing sharing Jesus with everyone

The girls' last cabin time

The 3 hour tour of San Clemente on the way back

Camp was such a blast this weekend. I can't wait for summer camp this year! Be sure to mark your calendars because we will be going back to Oakbridge this summer , June 24-29!

Can't wait for summer camp,  June 24-29