Pinedale & Beyond
Guys, Wyoming is stunning. This month Rich and I were able to see a little bit of Wheatland and do a youth service there and we were also able to help out at PK retreat this month at Half Moon Lake up near Pinedale, WY - and was so incredibly beautiful. We were able to use Douglas AG's church van to pick up a bunch of PKs and adventure over to and from Pinedale (we can all tell you quite a story about Atlantic City, WY 😂.) PK retreat has easily been one of my favorite events so far. There's so much purposeful room for relationship building and authentic connection, but also intentionality in times of pouring into students. Also, the PKs in this state are just incredible humans - fun to be around, tremendously gifted, and wise beyond their years.
I've also been working behind the scenes on our Youth Alive club guides that are getting closer and closer to being ready (or at least a beta version of them - I expect they'll adapt as we see what works!) We plan to have them finished well ahead of Launch Night Live in October. Some of our Youth Alive friends in Arizona have been so generous with their resources and we have been influenced quite a bit by their model. We also are in the process of connecting with some friends doing Jesus Clubs and that is shaping our processes. I'm so thankful for these partnerships that are moving the kingdom forward and reaching a generation.
Another behind the scenes thing is an After Launch guide I'm writing that is primarily for myself and other Youth Alive missionaries who are leading students through trainings. I have felt God leading me in this process and have been voraciously studying church planting material and adapting it to students reaching their campuses and communities. While a club isn't exactly a church (though there are more parallels than most probably realize), there are strong similarities to the things pastors planting a church and students leading a club face. A student leading a club on their campus obviously wants to build a bridge to the local church, but until that happens (and even after that, honestly) they are pastoring their generation. I feel God leading and guiding me to equip them for that task as much as we can. So I'm looking forward to Discord calls where we dial in on aspects of spiritual growth, personal evangelism, church planting - all applied to the campus context. It's going to be good and I'm really excited about it!
