This fall has been far busier than I anticipated. At Youthfront, we have tried to focus our recruiting efforts primarily in the fall so that winter and spring can be dedicated to interviewing and hiring summer staff, and preparing for camp. That means I’ve been on the road quite a bit. Here’s my travel log since the first week in November:
November 2 - Bethel University, Minneapolis MN
November 4 - Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonais IL
November 5 - Hope College, Holland MI
November 6 - Youthfront Feed The Hunger event in Holland MI
November 11 - Missouri State University, Springfield MO
November 12 - Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar MO
November 15-18 - Jess & my one year anniversary trip! Eureka Springs, AR
November 19-22 - National Youth Workers Convention, Nashville, TN
December 2 - Northwest Missouri State, Maryville MO
December 7 - Kansas State University, Manhattan KS
And I’m almost done! The last few schools we will visit are just day trips, and it’s great to finally be anchored back here in KC again. One of the most enjoyable recruiting events actually happened a couple days ago just down the street from me at McCoy’s in Westport where we had an open house for Kansas City area summer staff and people interested in applying. You’ll see the picture below where a bunch of our friends are gathered around a table talking about life, camp, school, experiences, and dreams. The two hour block flew by, and it was great to meet some new people who are applying or have already applied to work at camp this summer. I always love talking about our philosophy of ministry at Youthfront with people and dreaming about the ways that I can help be a part of the work God is doing at Youthfront Camp South.
I also attended the National Youth Workers Convention for the first time where 3,500 youth workers from around the country came together to learn and network in Nashville. It was fun to do this with Mike King and Erik Leafblad and see how well respected and connected Mike is in the youth ministry world. I also met a lot of new people and had countless conversations about camp and Youthfront with people who are interested in learning about how we participate in youth ministry.
And now finally, Jessica and I are together at home and turning our attention towards Advent and remembering, retelling, and reliving the story of Jesus’ coming into the world. We’ve been burning wood fires in our fireplace here and spending lots of good time just resting at home. We’ll be around KC for Christmas and then probably head out to our family’s cabin in Colorado between Christmas and the new year.
We’re also taking some intentional time at Youthfront to focus on personal support raising. This is something that I have always kept last on my to-do list and therefore never really get to a place where I am spending focused time on it. Thankfully Youthfront recognizes our need as supported staff to have time set aside for this and so I will spend some time between now and Christmas talking with close friends and family about the possibility of supporting us regularly. If you might be interested, I’d love to chat with you. We’ve been blessed greatly with Jessica’s career as a nurse and my work at Youthfront and Jacob’s Well and we are also recognizing the need to plan for our future and continue the work of raising support in order to keep on living and working the way we currently are.
Thanks for reading! We hope you are doing well and feeling blessed this Advent. Drop us a line and let us know what’s happening in your world!
