An encouraging report from YFC - Summer 2009

“A baccalaureate to remember”

Dillon* grabbed me just minutes before the beautifully dressed processional of students in long robes got ready to enter for the annual baccalaureate. A few minutes later I found myself driving the legally fastest way possible to the Children’s Home. Two students hadn’t been able to make it to the service, but thanks to a caring fellow student at the home and great staff at the Children’s Home I was now the official ‘recruit’ to make a memory for these two girls who graduated. We found their robes and made it back halfway through the service. Two proud students walked into the service to take their seats.

I wanted this to be a night for them to remember, so I decided to take them out for something to eat afterwards. “What was the highlight of this past year?” I asked, expecting anything from a very negative report about something that happened with their families to a positive report about a fieldtrip or some special ‘cool’ event they had been a part of. What I didn’t expect were the words of Lisa*. “The YFC Bible Study”. Surprised, I asked her why. “You guys came in and told me that God cared about my life. That no matter what hardships I went through that He had a plan. I used to think that God didn’t care about my life because of all the troubles I experienced. I never realized that God wanted to be with me in the midst of all the troubles and that He hadn’t forgotten about me but had a plan for my life”. Wow! I couldn’t help think about the meetings where Rick and his team of volunteers—myself included—left the home wondering if we had done any good. Kids seemed consumed with their latest boyfriend, or angry about a home situation, and we couldn’t seem to reach them. Then there were those other times where it seemed they did listen. Jeremiah 29:11 says it beautifully: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and give you a future”.

This truth works—it’s something they can take with them through the good and bad times of their lives. I drove the two students back to their home that night, deeply grateful to all of you—our friends and partners who make this possible with your prayers and giving. You didn’t get to hear this testimony firsthand, but I do hope you get a taste of it through this letter. This is a huge moment in the lives of these kids.
* Name changed for privacy reasons

Join us at the Children's Home

YFC visits the Farmington Children's Home each week. This is a time to connect trained adults with young people to help them make good choices and establish a solid foundation in life. Like every ministry of YFC, we seek to engage these young people wherever they are found as life-long followers of Jesus Christ. It is estimated that 25% of our young people today are deemed "at-risk youth," according to the National Research Council Panel on High-Risk Youth (1995). The National Youth Guidance Department has defined an at-risk young person as a young person who has experienced significant damage and is likely to damage the lives of others. A "significantly damaged life" is defined as the presence of negative influences (or the absence of positive influences) that increase the likelihood of destructive life choices.

Youth for Christ visits the Farmington Children’s Home every week with a program that allows 10-20 kids to study and discuss God’s Word together. Today’s society might label them as “troubled” but it’s for them that Christ came.

Current meetings are every Monday from 3.15-4.30.

For more information please contact Rick Augustine at 631-9310