“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”
(Psalm 107:2)
Today was the first day back to school for most of our B-PV Young Life and WyldLife friends and the first day of anything brings a mix of emotions - joy, nervousness, excitement, fear, anticipation, and hopefully, hope.
As a Young Life staff person, a new school year is certainly a cause for hope because over the summer many of the friends our leaders have gotten to know during the past year had the opportunity to experience the fun and adventure of Young Life and WyldLife summer camp. They also got to see and hear the Gospel proclaimed in powerful ways and consider how that story of Jesus intersects with the stories of their lives. Many of these friends took steps into new or deepening relationships with Jesus. A new school year brings opportunities to accompany these friends as they learn what it means to walk in faith and use their story to point others towards Jesus…what could be more hope-filled than that!?
Below are some summer highlights and lots of cause for hope and gratitude...
IMPACT…
A total of 26 campers and 5 leaders went to Castaway this summer - 6 to Young Life camp and 25 to WyldLife camp! Some of you may be noticing that this math doesn’t seem to be mathing…it's because one of our YL campers also went on our WL trip as a student leader! Walking with kids long-term and training them up to be Kingdom leaders is one of the best parts of the work we get to do in Young Life.
PRAYER…
Pray for continued growth and health for B-PV Young Life. We're hopeful that God will bless our efforts to serve Him by serving kids in our community and that our need for resources and leaders would be met in bigger and better ways than we could imagine. Pray for a year full of fun and learning and safety for all students and teachers in our Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley schools.
FINANCES…
Thank you to those of you who chipped in with financial support for the mission of B-PV Young through Birdies for Charity! Birdies allows many individuals and and organizations in our community to be catalysts for hope and we’re grateful to be the recipients of such generosity!
STAFF, COMMITTEE & LEADERS…
B-PV’s public schools serve roughly 5,080 students in 6th-12th grades. B-PV Young Life’s leaders know about 250 of them by name. Our WyldLife Clubs regularly host 35 middle school/junior high kiddos. With the start of the new year, many of these friends are now freshmen at BHS and PVHS and our team needs 12 new leaders to continue WyldLife’s success AND launch a Young Life Club. If you or someone you know loves Jesus and teenagers, I’d love to chat about what using your story as a catalyst for hope looks like as a B-PV Young Life or WildLife leader!
Thank you for being a friend of B-PV Young Life as we work to be a friend to teenagers in our community. Pray for us as we pray for you.
With gratitude and hope,
Emily
