Going Through Changes

I’d like to sit down with you for coffee and just work our way through all the things happening at Youth For Christ. I’d want you to know about the “ups” of youth accepting Christ, new volunteers leading small groups, teen center renovation milestones, and a great 59th Annual Golf Classic last month. And the “downs” of one Campus Life site pausing our adult volunteers from participating, feeling the crunch of having more to do than our current capacity allows, and lots of life changes happening amongst our team.

Our chapter feels like it is in a significant transitional season, the in-between of something old and something new. Change is in the air. There’s a hip new artist named Yungblud (I know, I know, oy vey) who belts this one line like a time-traveling, shirtless Rolling Stone… “I’m going through channnggeeeesssss.” Changes seem so cool in leather pants. In reality, changes and leather pants in Fresno are way more uncomfortable.

In our pursuit of connecting 1,500 lost teenagers in Christ-sharing relationships each year, we are hiring high-capacity leaders who can effectively equip and empower more volunteer teams. We also need to level up fundraising and integrate and streamline systems and processes. We’re asking God what needs to change to reach more teens, sustainably.

Some transformations from God are instantaneous, cat-like, swift, and dramatic, like that one with the demoniac at the tomb who Jesus healed (Luke 8). For some youth, like the 5 pictured to the right who accepted Christ this last month in Central Unified, you can see the change when the first smile comes out or when harmful patterns start breaking down. The change has simply come, praise God!

Other times, change is more like a maturation, a mysterious chrysalis-like experience in which God prepares the moment, like the 400 years of prophetic silence between the books of Malachi and Matthew, in which the yearning of God’s people for the messiah grew. This is the kind of change over time that I love seeing as the purposes of God in people come steadily alive.

One of our beloved staff members, Nathan Elliott, who leads Campus Life in Central Unified, just had two significant events happen within weeks of each other. For 8 years, he’s been moving more and more into his call of ministry, gaining confidence, adding skill and experience, and saying yes to opportunities. Just recently, he was invited to become a youth pastor at a local church near his Campus Life site. He was ecstatic, and so were we, as he can be the direct bridge from campus to the church! And then his Dad passed away.

When I had a chance to connect with Nathan this week, his passion, even amidst grief, was at an all-time high. His excitement for the power of the gospel, shown even in the process of his Dad’s passing, was palpable. It’s amazing to me that this season of grief is also the season of extreme fruitfulness for Nathan’s ministry. In fact, of all his eight YFC years, this year he’s had the most volunteers, students accepting Christ, going to church with him, and being baptized. It’s the “ups” and the “downs” of changes.

I yearn for change in the things that need improvement. I’m eager to get there, arrive, enjoy the promised land, and be at peace. It’s coming, I know that to be true as God bends it all towards His new creation.

And so in the “ups” and “downs”, the uncomfortable middle between the already and the not yet, we echo the prayer of scripture, “Come Lord Jesus, Come.” And in doing so, we find strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Together

Jameson White