What is Young Life?

High School Campaigners

"What do you do?"

I get this question a lot. It is usually followed by, "What is Young Life?"

If you look at the mission statement of Young Life, "Introducing adolescents to Christ, and helping them grow in their faith," it seems pretty straight forward... Young Life seems to be like any other youth ministry. We are trying to share Jesus with kids, and help them develop and grow in relationship with him.

To a very large degree, this is correct. We are like most church youth groups. We try to develop an atmosphere that is attractive to kids, and will foster their growth in Jesus.

But, at the same time, we are different than most local church youth groups.

We primarily seek the lost sheep that don't seem to have a flock, or have wondered away from home. We are going after the kids that aren't going to one of the many amazing youth groups that are all over South Orange County.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells a few stories of lost things. He tells the story of a lost sheep, and then a story of a woman who lost a coin, followed by the story of a father who loses a son. In the first two stories, the shepherd and the woman drop everything they are doing and seek after what they have lost. Jesus says that the shepherd would leave 99 sheep to just find the one that got lost.

Young Life is this shepherd. We are a part of the arm of the Church that goes out from the pen in search of the lost sheep. We do not have a building, and when we go out doing Young Life, we are leaving the flock behind in search of sheep that have gotten lost, or even sheep that just never seem to have found home. We go to these sheep, meet them where they are, earn their trust by showing them that we like them just the way they are, and then begin to bring them home through a loving and caring relationship.

This takes a lot of time, and, often times, it doesn't look pretty, doesn't look flashy, and can be incredibly hard work. More times than not, it might not be much to look at, there might not be a huge crowd, flashy program, or loud music. Sometimes it might just look like someone surfing with someone else, or getting coffee, or going to a movie, or weird adults showing up at freshman games. It can be exhausting and can test the patience of even the best leaders... but just like in the stories Jesus told, when we get to bring one of these sheep home... ITS TIME TO PARTY!

So, what do I do in Young Life? I get to search for God's lost sheep, his kids that seem to have wondered away, and begin the journey back home with them... even if it takes years, and even when its costly.

Please email me if you would like to be a part of this search and rescue mission! We are currently looking for leaders for all our clubs. There are opportunities to work with middle school students, high school students, and special needs kids.

Marco WyldLife

Ladera WyldLife Bonfire

Ladera WyldLife

Pray With Us

Young Life Bean Bag Tournament

Young Life isn't just for the kids, it's for the big kid inside you also!!!

Young Life is hosting a bean bag tournament to create a fun family filled day of Young Life. We will have things for the kids to do both big and small.

Please feel free to invite anyone you would like to join you in this tournament. 

Please sign up with the link below:

Sign Up

-Dave

High Rollers- American Idol Club

The last Wednesday in March has been known as our American Idol club for quite some time now. Each year our friends with special needs get to perform their favorite song for their friends and family. Each year this event is amazing! Our friends have an absolute ball and enjoy every moment of it. Here are a couple pics to give you an idea of the fun.

-Dave

Young Life Area Camping Trip 2015

For the past 3 years our area has made a tradition of going camping in the Spring. The reason we go is to build community among all the leaders, grow in the Lord, and rest. 

This year was another faithful example of how the Lord is blessing us. One of my highlights is when we talk about how and when we have seen God moving in our lives and ministry. 

There were a lot of "God Sighting's" this past year!!!

As an area we praised God in worship and in action. We had a solo time Saturday morning and communion together on Sunday. Each night we worshipped together and talk about God.

The Lord has been super faithful to our area once again. 

Enjoy the shots below from our very own Rachel Antoun

-Dave

Orange County Dodgeball Tournament 2015

Throughout each semester, we have a number of events that add some adventure into our group.  Last year, the annual OC Dodgeball Tournament was a fantastic night of games, team building, and winning (of course).

This year, we were able to take a group of 15 students and 5 leaders to represent South County.  The guys dressed to kill, the girls dressed for style.  We arrived early and began sizing up some of the other teams: San Clemente, Irvine, Tustin, and so on.  After some verbose trash talking, we began the fun of throwing rubber balls at one another as hard as we could.

In the end, we didn't win any championships, but we did all win free ice cream!  It was an evening to remember, and a great night to be in YoungLife.

Capernaum Loving Big Air

This month the High Rollers club enjoys March Madness as much as the next person. Although Capernaum does it a little different. This year our March Madness is trying out a few new things.

Week 1: Movie Night
Week 2: Big Air Trampoline Park
Week 3: Eating Dinner Together @ Bravo Burger
Week 4: American Idol Club

Below are some of the highlights from Big Air. For those who don't know what Big Air is, it's an indoor trampoline park that has many different things you can do (as seen below). The best thing I think was the giant dodgeball game we had to end the night. It was so great that everyone was playing and there was no time for pics, ha.

It was a super fun night that we will have to repeat again soon!!!

-Dave

Marco WYLDLIFE is back!!!

We had our first club after our Christmas break and it was a good one. To keep in the season with unhealthy eating we decided to pile all the kids into the cars and drive to right aid and get a proper double scoop scoop. After getting in the yummy ice cream we headed back to the house where Riley Murphy brought the word in a real way. He told stories of his previous missions trips and tied them in perfectly with the passage of Jesus walking on the water. The connection between our faith and understanding with Jesus and keeping our eyes focused on jesys. life will be a lot easier instead of when we try to do it on our own.

Prayer in High Rollers

A couple times a year club will end a bit sooner than expected. One of my favorite things to do when that happens is to ask for Prayer Requests. Our students love this! It gives them a time to share whats really on their hearts. It gives them a time to know that what they request is heard and will actually be prayed for. 

I know some people don't realize the power of prayer but I promise you that these guys do. They know they can give their requests to God and it will be honored. This is just one of many lessons I have learned from the High Rollers in the time I have spent with them.

Below was the prayer requests from the other night.

-Dave

High Rollers Halloween Club

High Rollers is up and running! Halloween is always a fun club because we all get dresses up. I love seeing that our friends come as. Some come as scary creatures and others are princesses, I love the dynamic of that!

-Dave

High Rollers is Back!!!!!

High Rollers is back in action and having an awesome time! We have had 2 clubs this year so far and had a good times at both. 

This year a new friend named Benny* came to club for the first time. He had happen to be at the bowling alley the same time one of our leaders was there. Our leader had struck up a conversation with the student and his family and ended up telling them about High Rollers. 

Benny showed up to the first club of the year a little apprehensive and unsure of what to expect. He hung outside with the leader that invited him and myself while peppering us with question on what to expect from the evening. As Mark and I answered his questions to the best of our abilities, I was excited for him to experience Young Life for the first time.

As we finally went upstairs to start club Benny eyes lit up, I could see Young Life was something he had never experienced before. That night we played a game that consisted of eating as many mini donuts as possible. I'm pretty sure this is something he has never had a chance to do. The night ended with myself being able to introduce the fact that we would be talking about Jesus at High Rollers all year. I excited for Benny to hear about Jesus and that he means something!

Benny had an awesome night. He was fully engaged and interacted with everyone. Thank you for allowing kids like Benny to have a place to experience life like he has never before! Thank you for helping us provide a place for Benny and so many other students in South County.

*Benny is not his real name
-Dave

Winding Up- Young Life Club

Winding Up

The first day of school is a pretty big deal.  Classes begin, athletes train, friendships rekindle.  The school campus comes back to life and bells start ringing.  I’ve been preparing and praying over the San Juan Hills campus for months now, recruiting leaders and calling kids.  It’s all leading up to the start of Club, the start of fun, games, friendships, and sharing the Gospel. 

We’re starting with a pool party tomorrow night, September 30^th.  The goal of the night is to get as many high schoolers as possible in one place, to have a great time, and to gain momentum for the year as we host more events and clubs.  I’m excited to start this process of winding up to new beginnings, a new school year, and a new YoungLife club!

-Josh G

Camp is Coming- Dana Hills

As we announced the camp dates our students filled with excitement. This year there are new kids too who are already looking forward to the "best week of their life". 

As leaders and people who support Young Life, we can do alot to prepare. We work towards this all year actually. That week away to really get a chance to talk to the kids about Jesus away from their every day distractions. So much growth comes out of that week. Kids who have never talked to God before pray on that trip. 

It is incredible! 

What we really need to do is spend these few months in prayer. As you think of Dana Young Life from time to time, I ask you to join me in praying for our students and that week at camp.

Pray for:

• Kids to have an encounter with the Lord that forever changes them. To truly know God's love.
• They will desire to follow Him more than anything this world offers
• They will feel comfortable opening up to their leaders and sharing their burdens with us for our leaders
• Funds

Thank you for all your love and prayers that help carry this ministry.

-Megan

Beyond Capernaum Update

We've had a great Fall Semester at Beyond Young Life. Our awesome, committed leaders have set the tone for a welcoming, high-energy environment that fills up each Wednesday with our friends. We've enjoyed getting to know some new people coming from the Glenwood Home in Laguna Beach, as well as strengthening relationships with familiar friends.  During our club talks we've been studying the Heroes of the Faith, based on Hebrews 11. We've even been visited by our very own superheroes each week (Captain Mismatch, Ironing Man, and Supremely Fast Man) that have comically helped to reinforce the stories we've learned. One of the highlights of our clubs are the small group time that we have each week to discuss the club talk, share about our lives and pray for each other.

Some other highlights of the semester include our Halloween dance party and during Thanksgiving we rallied together to participate in Operation Christmas Child. We put together 16 boxes of toys and supplies that will be sent to children all over the world for Christmas. It was a blessing to serve others and know we are making a difference in the lives of others in Jesus' name! We're looking forward to our last gathering of the semester where we'll watch a Christmas movie while snuggled in our pajamas.

-Tristen Anderson

Ladera Ranch is getting ready for lift off!

Next week we will be starting both campaigners AND club in Ladera Ranch.

After having a parent meeting, several leader meetings, and spending time praying about when to start, we feel like the time has come. 

This coming Monday at 7:15am, in the park connected to Ladera Ranch Middle School, we will be having our first campaigners meeting. This will be a time to eat doughnuts together, share about our lives together, and start exploring the book of Mark together. I pray that as we get to read through Mark, and learn more about Jesus, we will begin to see lives changed, relationships grow much deeper, and a solid core group of boys develope that are excited about living life with Jesus and with each other. My hope is that this group grows closer to each other, and closer to God through starting off the week together, learning about who Jesus is, and what it looks like to follow him.

Then, Friday night at 7:30, we will be starting the Ladera Ranch WyldLife club! The other leaders and I (Luke) are so excited about starting this adventure and cannot wait to see what God has in store. Next week we will be eating pizza, playing games, and learning a bit about who God really is and how he loves us all more than we could ever know.

So please be praying these next two weeks! We are so excited about this, but want to make sure we are giving it to God, and resting in the fact that he cares about the kids of Ladera more than we do, and even that he cares about us more than we care about ourselves... He is in control, and the glory is His... I'm just very thankful he has invited me into his mission in Ladera Ranch.

Young Life -- The Big Dream

What Young Life is ALL about!!







-Dave

Eat the Menu- San Juan Hills Young Life

In each of us there is a desire to break limitations, to accomplish something never done before.  We try to climb the mountain, paint the masterpiece, cook Thanksgiving dinner - a chance to do the impossible.  

I challenged 25 high school students to do something amazing, difficult, and ridiculous.  We went to Taco Bell, divided the kids into teams, and promised them that we would be making stories happen.  We ordered heaps of tacos, enchiladas, burritos, empanadas, chalupas, quesadillas, churros, nachos, and every other type of Mexican fast food known to man.  After we gave an equal amount of the feast to each of our three teams, and let them know that only one team would be crowned as winners.  Then, we begun.

Kids devoured mounds of cheese, meat and sour cream.  The tables were piled high with wrappers and used napkins.  At first they ate with incredible speed and excitement.  Within a few minutes, however, they settled in for the long, slow haul to the finish line.  Some students followed the strategy of the tortoise, others went the route of the hare.  Either way, we all filled our bodies with more calories than should be legally acceptable.  

In the end, one team won, the restaurant made some money, and all of our our stomachs lost.  The kids all had a wonderful time breaking basic bodily limits, had fun with new friends, and were exposed to YoungLife for the first time.  We were able to build relationships with these students, show them a good time, and briefly tell them that we love Jesus and would enjoy hanging out with them more.  It was a crazy night, and it was the start of something awesome.

Victory is soooooo SWEET!!!

-Josh

Capernaum Weekend Winter Camp 2013

Last weekend we had the opportunity to join close to 300 students at Young Life's Oakbridge camp in the San Diego mountains. We took 15 Capernaum students and leaders to experience a weekend full of fun and learning about the free gift God gave each of us on Christmas. A few highlights of the weekend include messy games (kids got to throw shaving cream at their leaders, what's not to like about that?!), dance parties during club, and cabin time where we had the chance to debrief together as a group and hear what our students thought about the message that was shared at club. It always blows my mind to see how differently each of us (and our students) connect with God. Hearing what our students had to say about how much they know God loves them and what was on their hearts was a personal highlight of mine. It really was a privilege to spend the weekend with our Capernaum students at winter camp.

-Ashley Silver