Do You Remember Young Life Camp?
Raise your hand if you attended a Young Life camp as a middle or high school
student. Many talk about their week at Young Life camp as being the “best week of their
life.” Maybe you parasailed at Saranac, rappelled at Frontier Ranch or saw Malibu for the first time from the deck
of the Princess. For some of you it was the turning point when you were introduced to Christ and He met you right
where you were.
This summer, nearly 50,000 campers will spend a week at one of 21 Young Life
camps. For many of them it will be the first time they hear the story of Christ’s love. During
the “Say So” thousands of those kids will stand up and share that they made a commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. The next day they will leave for home with their leaders and the adventure really begins.
Was this your story? Was it the story of some of your Young Life
friends? We are honored that God is still pleased to work through Young Life to reach kids in a powerful fashion. We cherish
you as a part of Young Life’s rich history of loving kids and helping them grow in their faith.
Check out what's going on with Young Life camping today and reconnect with us! This time next year you could be a Young Life leader taking a group to camp. Or, you may
have a teenager who could have the best week of his or her life at Young Life camp in 2008. Drop us a line and let us know who you are, where you are and how Young Life
impacted you. It’s never too late to “Say So!”
In This Issue
A Total Turnaround:
One woman's story of faith that took her from being a disinterested Young Life kid to starting Young Life in a remote part of
Alaska.
Alumni: Your Stories
The Alumni Database - Please Subscribe!
A Total
Turnaround
By Aimée Kessick
Sometimes the words that Young Life staff and leaders share with kids about the God who loves
them seem to ricochet off hardened hearts and closed minds.
If anyone watched Julie Brown at Young Life club when she was in high school, it would
have appeared that was true of her, too. “I would sit in the back row, look up, then look down, twirl my hair on my fingertips,” Julie
Brown said. “I probably had that look on my face like ‘Let’s get out of here.’” Needless to say, Julie looked
forward to the weekly tradition of getting ice cream after club more than club itself.
Julie and her friends took in the fun that Young Life had to offer, but they wanted
little to do with matters of faith. Julie described herself as a “peripheral Young Life kid. None of my Young Life leaders really knew
what was going on in my life at the time, probably because I didn’t let them.”
Julie and her friends attended a weekend camp, and she clearly
remembers their demonstrative resistance. One night after club, their pack of friends walked back to
the cabin chanting, “Jesus Christ crammed down our throats.” Julie said “We thought we were all just too
good.”
Finding faith
After high school, Julie seemed to head further away from the hope she’d heard
about through Young Life leaders like Bob Runyan. She went to college and lived a reckless lifestyle. From college, Julie wanted to escape even
further. So she headed to Alaska, living the life of a hippie and living off the land.
Although it seemed Julie was wandering further from God, He found her in the
middle of nature. “I was in the woods, in the middle of the Yukon River, watching the orange moon rise. I felt so small. I knew there had to
be God. I felt His presence in nature, but I didn’t know Jesus Christ yet.”
A few years later, when she was 25, Julie married a bush pilot. Several years
after that, they were living in a small, rugged cabin in Alaska. One day, as she stood in her kitchen kneading dough, pictures of her Young Life days
began to flash in her mind.
She began to picture her Young Life leader, Bob Runyan. “He was just radiating
God’s love. I was remembering things he’d said at the time. I had wonderful feelings and memories of the connections with friends I had
made back then. I remembered Bob pouring his heart out about the Lord. I could see his love, care and sincerity for us
kids.”
The memories that had been etched on her heart would not go away. “I knew I
needed to go to church where I could find out more.” So Julie began attending a small, missionary church with a couple who lived nearby.
The messages seemed tailored for her, and it wasn’t long before Julie had let the God of the nature she loved become King in her heart.
Laying groundwork
Three years later, she felt a prompting to start Young Life in Galena, which is located in a
remote part of Alaska that is only accessible by plane. Most of the kids from Galena or the nearby villages have never been outside of Alaska.
“People really chuckled. They said, ‘Young Life’s a suburban thing. It won’t work here.’”
Julie brushed off the discouragement and with her son launched Young Life in 1994. Kids
were skeptical at first. Starting out, seven kids was a good crowd for club. They took three kids to camp that first year. “We could barely
talk them into going,” she said.
But every year after that, more and more kids wanted to go, meaning Julie and
volunteers worked even harder to fundraise the $1,000 it would cost per kid for transportation and camp costs. “I was always wrestling for
funds,” she said. “But God always provided. There was a lot of bonding with the kids and working together when we’d raise
funds.”
Still growing
Julie continued to be involved in the ministry until 2002. By then, the ministry was
reaching kids at the village school and the nearby boarding school.
The groundwork laid by Julie has been developed further by Dave Pavish,
Galena’s area director. “On average we have between 35 and 45 teens at club, with
our biggest clubs over the past few years averaging 60 kids,” he said. “This is astounding considering that there are about 150 to160
students in Galena total. Nearly every high school student in Galena has come to club and heard the message of who Jesus
is.”
Saying “thanks”
Last summer, Julie returned to her hometown in California, where she and her group
of friends from high school reunited to reminisce and reconnect with Bob Runyan.
“I wanted him to know that the seed he helped plant when I was 17 made a huge
difference when I was 30. I was one of those kids no one knew they were connecting with.”
A message that seemed to fall on deaf ears decades ago had slowly seeped into
Julie’s heart. Captivated by Christ’s love, she set out to see that kids in her part of the world — no matter how remote
— would have a chance to connect with Him too.
Alumni: Your Stories
-
|
The following was submitted to younglife.org by Erin Pettengill, a Young Life alumna.
High school is a turbulent time indeed. I started my high school time like many others, not knowing where I was
going or what to do with my life. I was not involved in any church group growing up. In high school I started hearing about Young Life club. My
brother had been involved in the group before me, and occasionally club met at our house.
I soon became very involved. The second year of high school I went on a summer camp trip where I accepted Christ
as my personal Savior. The following summe I went to Haiti on a mission trip with my Young Life group. I had come to understand the beginning of
what it meant to be a follower of Christ. Upon graduation from high school I joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, where my church life was
very limited. I didn’t have a Christian role model to follow. However, Young Life had given me the basic foundation.
I moved to Sacramento, Calif., after I was discharged from the military and started attending college. I met my
future husband, married, and we were both baptized at our church. Years later we went on our first adult mission trip and have never looked back.
During the past six years my husband, my daughter and I have been on 10 short-term mission trips to nine different countries.
As a Christian, a mother, a wife, a registered nurse and a short-term missionary, I soon
sensed the call to be a long-term missionary. My husband and I are currently on route to be missionaries to La Ceiba, Honduras. This is a far way
from the life of a young girl, raised in a house of non-believers, who will now be a full-time missionary, hoping to be used by God to advance His
kingdom. All of this is happening because of the Holy Spirit and the initial work done by this extraordinary organization, Young
Life.
The Alumni Database - Please
Subscribe!
Why? First, because we care about you and don't want to lose touch. Also, it is a great way
to find your Young Life friends and to help them find you. Sign up now!
We'd love for you to forward the Alumni eNewsletter to your friends. They can
add their names to the database and sign up to receive the eNewsletter directly from our Web Site. |
