Hi everyone!
Some exciting news to update you on! Camp, Club, Chi-Town Cabin Time, and Kelvyn Park High School! Thank you for all of your prayers as this has been an exciting start to our second year.
Camp
Camp was amazing; it always seems to be! This year we took 17 teens to Saranac Village Young Life Camp in New York state. 4 of those teens were saved and two recommitted their lives to Christ! And, 13 guys made a commitment to follow Christ! Praise God!! During the whole week at camp, relationships were birthed and deepened between our leaders and the teens as well as between some teens that didn’t like each other when camp started. Taking them away from their natural environment was a great way to jazz them up about life and for them to hear the still voice of God.
To see camp pictures go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?
Chi-Town Cabin Time
This is a weekly Friday afternoon after-school Bible study that the guys from Kelvyn Park High School and I have at my house. Young Life traditionally calls this bible study a campaigner, but we felt that our camp cabin went so well that calling it that gave these teens, which all but 3 have never been in a Bible study, a better idea of the atmosphere and expectations of our time together. I conveniently live a 5 minute walk from the high school so it’s relatively easy to get the guys to come to my house for after school snacks and a conversational Bible study. They love it! They horse around as guys can do, but it’s all part of the community aspect of our Bible Study. Sometimes, when I teach on community, we intentionally hang out as we learn to deepen our love for each other and for God. We are currently going through James. Some times we only get 2 verses done in 1 hour! But I love how it’s going because those 2 verses takes us into deep discussion as to what those verses mean and how those verses can be directly applied to change our high school! It’s amazing to see their faces when I tell them that Christ in them is unstoppable and that He wants to change their high school through them! Currently there are an average of 10 guys coming to this Bible study. Praise God!
Club
Club is our weekly program night where we use fun, games, laughter, and music to break down walls that the teens walk into our Club room with in order to be able to present Christ to them at the end of the night. While camp is labeled the best week of their lives, club is said to be the best night of their week. If you have ever been to a church youth group, this is not it. This night is tailored specifically for kids that are disinterested in the Gospel and in life altogether. This night is the one night of the week where those kids are in our turf and the point is for them to feel the love of Christ to the point where He is the reason that they want to come back. We have Club every Tuesday night from 7 to 9. In the first two clubs of the year, we had 30 teens, and then 22. We feel that one the word gets out at the schools as well as having the consistency of having club every week will be factors into quick growth. Our goal and dream is to have 75 to 100 teens at club every week, hearing about Jesus as they have a blast. The first club we talked about what Young Life is: being young, and having life to the fullest as Christ wants us to have. The second night we talked about who Jesus is, and who Peter said He was, the Messiah.
Kelvyn Park High School
We have a HUGE praise report on Kelvyn Park High School. Last year all non-profits were not allowed to go back into the school because the new principal ran a tight ship. Just a couple of those non-profits are now allowed to go back into the school and that’s because those non-profits were related to after school tutoring. Due to the sheer grace of God, we are now not only being able to be in the school, but we have been asked to be in the school by the principal herself! Our staff were at our guys’ football game two Saturdays ago and they happened to be sitting behind the principal. After chatting with her, she was really impressed at the commitment that we had to be where our kids are. In this case, it was a Saturday night, 7pm, in a rainy stadium without many parents or Kelvyn Park supporters. We met with her last weekand now we are able to also have an office in the building! Praise God! This has been an answer to a year and a half of prayer!
Prayer Requests
We have a lot of things going on and we need your prayer!
-Club: That more new kids get the opportunity to hear about Christ
-Chi-Town Cabin Time: That those that have made a decision to follow Christ deepen their faith
-Camp: We are going to Polar Bear Weekend November 5-7. It’s in Timberwolf Lake in Michigan. This camp is also tailored for non-believer, so please pray that we are able to take 24 new teens to hear the Gospel
-Fundraising: That we continually partner with people in order to keep the ministry going
Thank you guys so much for being such a huge support!!
Pablo Otaola
Area Director
Northwest Chicago Young Life
2100 N. Kildare Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
cell: 805.698.1615
