Mike King

Monday at Youthfront

There is so much going on this week in the world of Youthfront and the King Family.  We have been in a real growth and synergistic phase in our ministry.  Lot's of great things are going on.  We (King Family) are also getting ready for a big wedding this week.  Our daughter Jessica is getting married to Micah Thomas (who works at Youthfront).  So the two worlds mix it up.  It all makes for great times.

Youthfront hosted Ed Dobson on Monday to speak to ministry leaders and staff.  We've know Ed and Lorna Dobson for thirty years.  It was very fulfilling, given Ed's and my past history of fundamentalism, to find ourselves where we are today.  It was also cool to have my friend Zack Exley (an architect of MoveOn.org) who has become a Christian and Ed Dobson (an architect of Moral Majority) in the same room and have now met (I wanted to say in the middle but it is more beautiful than that) at the table of the Lord Jesus.

Anyway, this was a great day.  Part of our Youthfront Rhythm of Life is to eat together as a staff at least once a month.  Since the weather was in the mid-seventies we fired up the grill and ate outside.  Jimmy Dodd and Roy Bilyeu from PastorServe came to present the PastorServe Founder's Award to Youthfront.  Youthfront was integral in launching this ministry to serve Pastors.  On their 10th Anniversary they honored Youthfront.  I accepted the award at a citywide banquet of pastors a month ago but they came to present it to our entire staff and honor them.  It was a sweet time.

Vicki and me with Ed and Lorna, Micah our son and Micah our soon to be son-in-law.

Jimmy Dodd and Roy Bilyeu presenting PastorServe Founder's Award.

Still Time to Come Learn from Andy Root

My friend Andy Root is spending the next couple of days with us here in Kansas City.

Andy Root, PhD (Princeton Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is the author of Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009).

We are expecting around 100 youth workers to spend the day with Andy tomorrow (Thursday, November 5th from 9:00 to 2:30 at Youthfront.

 

Andy is making a huge impact on the theological thinking of youth workers.  It's not too late to come if you are in the Midwest.  More information here.

God's Love...

video reports

I get two video reports each day, one from each camp.   I love it because it keeps me feeling connected even when I'm stuck in the office.

Croc

Our staff in Mexico are enduring the heat, avoiding the hyped-up Swine Flu, hosting a steady stream of youth groups coming to participate in the manifestation of God's mission and faithfully striving to live missionally within the little village of Croc.  Here are a few pictures from Katie Jarmer... the first one is a picture of our staff.

video

Here is a cool little report Jim Newberry, Director at Youthfront Camp South, sent to our staff.

I had just retired to my cabin last Thursday night tired from a long day when I was called to come to the camp office.  David, one of our cabin leaders, said he "had" to talk to me. I must confess I said to myself "this better be good."  Little did I know how "good" it actually would be… 

When I reached the office David was standing there with wide eyes and a wide smile.  "Jim, I just had to tell you what happened tonight."  As I have shared in previous letters, our focus this summer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the lens of the parable of the Prodigal Son.  One way we help campers live into this story is through daily "Experiences."  One of these Experiences includes each cabin having a clay flower pot.  At the beginning of the week they meet, talk about the beauty and purpose of this pot, and then they break it to symbolize our brokenness.  Throughout the week they slowly glue this pot back together.  By the end of the week, the pot is restored, but still cracked and clearly visible that it was once broken.  However, our cabin leaders remind the campers that the cracked pot CAN be filled with something beautiful and perfect which causes it to be restored to it's original intention. They then plant flowers in the restored pot and put it in a flower garden we created with all the other restored pots from the summer.

David shared this story / experience with the boys in his cabin.  Afterwards, 6 boys from his cabin came to him one by one to tell him that they too want Jesus to restore them.  Each of them became followers of Christ that night.  David said to me with a smile and tears "Jim, they just kept coming."  I had David share this story at the Parent meeting at the end of last week as he shared "I will remember this week for the rest of my life."

Alumni Celebration

Our Youthfront/KCYFC Alumni Celebration was (proclaimed by a group of alumni as) EPIC. More than 500 alumni gathered at Youthfront Camp South. From the time the first guests arrived on Saturday afternoon until the last one left at 11:30 PM, it was non-stop hugging, story telling and celebration. Our co-founder Vidy Metsker was a real encouragement to all. Our staff was amazing as always in their radical service. I was exhausted, after the adrenaline from the celebration subsided. Blessed and fulfilled is the best way to describe how I feel about this event. I can only imagine how this will build to the next gathering two years from now. If you are connected to the story of Youthfront/KCYFC you will want to check out the Alumni site and check out some of the pictures here and here and stories here.
 

Packaging Meals

VIDEO OF PACKAGING MEALS

Media Coverage

We are getting significant media coverage for Feed the Hunger...