“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9.

Each month I attend the committee meeting where we discuss, plan and strategize the future of YoungLives. This is a time for updates, suggestions, status reports, and prayer over various subjects pertaining to this ministry. One significant topic we review each month is our budget. Our faithful Finance Manager, Ryan McCarty, explains where we are in terms of goals and needs and always presents ample data and reports to help us see our financial future. There’s usually an encouraging outlook but also a gentle reminder that we need the Lord to be in this or it will never work.  I’m sure I’m not the only one silently asking, “Lord, what would you have us to do?”

Well, a few months ago the answer came in the form of an invitation to share what we’re doing. Myrna was given the opportunity to share her heart and her passion for YoungLives with some local churches and the next thing we know we’re having a benefit concert. Really Lord?! Wow! Exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think! Thanks to the generous support of Tim Taber and Transparent Productions, we had a packed house at Rose Friends Church in Yorba Linda for the Danny Gokey concert benefitting North Orange County YoungLives.

What a glorious night it was! VIP ticket holders enjoyed an intimate time of dinner and fellowship with Danny Gokey before the show and listened to a live testimony from one of our graduated moms. Danny answered questions, posed for pictures and even sang a few songs.My heart was warmed as I watched him scurry backstage a little before show time with his plate of food that he didn’t have time to eat at the dinner. The show was amazing! A perfect mix of Danny’s current hits and worship songs brought a beautiful balance between excitement and awe. Myrna was given the stage to share about this wonderful ministry that was birthed from her love and dedication to teen moms and dads. Next, Crystal’s video aired as she shared her story of how YoungLives has impacted her life. I watched from the back of the room where I was able to see people wiping away tears because they were so moved by what they heard. Many of whom made their way to our information table to pick up literature, sign up to get involved or offer financial support. After everything was over, merchandise packed up, trash collected, lights going out we headed toward the parking lot. To my surprise I saw Danny sitting at a little roll away table signing autographs and visiting with the last few fans waiting to meet him. What a blessed night! If I had to choose one word to describe this night it would be humbling. Humbled by Danny Gokey sharing his gift and giving of himself.

Humbled by the willingness and generosity of Tim Taber and Transparent Productions to provide this unimaginable opportunity. Humbled by the favor of God. Humbled that He unfolds His plan and provision even as we are unaware.

-Sue Groff

Kim is one of our faithful volunteers who gives her time serving on the committee, heading up the Pancakes In The Park event, and much more. We are so thankful for her, and all that she does for the this ministry! Here is a little re-cap of the day from her perspective.

1400 pancakes, 1200 sausages, 250 cups of coffee, 10 gallons of orange juice, 17 crafters and 1 bounce house…..Plus a few dozen spirited volunteers!

But even more astounding is the number of people who showed up to support a week of camp for the YoungLives moms and their babies.  From the smell of sausages cooking, hearing the sounds of the kids playing in the bounce house and the joyful chatter of people interacting along with seeing all the people at the craft tables made my heart smile!

My husband and I were fortunate enough to experience camp at Lost Canyon a few years ago. It’s a beautiful facility where their goal is to cater to these young moms with fun activities, great food, and a powerful yet fun daily message that led up to the last evening which gave me goose bumps. The intentional silence with the background of angle-like voices singing a hymn resonated throughout the whole camp. It was all you heard yet you felt like you were witnessing beautifully broken hearts being mended. At that moment, you knew lives were being committed to hearing Jesus’s voice and following His plan.

YoungLives Camp is a place where moms find refuge. They are surrounded by people who just want to pour love on them and speak into their lives. They get to experience God for 6 solid days with no outside distractions or influences.  Its intentional, purposeful and a very memorable trip that I hope every mom gets the opportunity to partake in.

• Kim Sorenson

We have officially dove into the summer season, which means graduations are upon us!! I always love getting to see teen moms graduate from High School. Seeing their smiling faces walk down the aisle in their cap and gown as their families, friends, and loved ones cheer loud, they realize they have done it, they beat the odds and they graduated. Despite their circumstances and words the world tells them of not being able to do it all with having a baby, working and being in High School, they moved that tassel from right to left and achieved their goals to graduate.

Last week was the Valley Vista graduation which is a continuation school that a lot of our girls from Huntington Beach have gone to.
I absolutely love this ceremony because you can really feel how much these kids are loved and encouraged by all of their teachers,

principal’s, and staff at the school.

                                                                                                                                                                              The principal takes the time to read off each kid’s goals, achievements and dreams before giving them their diploma. I think it’s so cool to highlight each kid and make them feel special and loved in front of all of their loved ones. We had three teen moms walk down that aisle this year. It’s been amazing to walk with them through High School, helping with homework and seeing them get to where they are now.

I also got to attend the graduation of Back Bay Independent Studies, where we had one incredible girl graduate. This mom has three-year old twin boys. I have gotten to see her grow up, face challenges, overcome obstacles, get a job, go to camp, and now graduate High School. She’s basically super mom to say the least, and I’m not going to lie, I got a little emotional watching her walk down the aisle to receive her diploma. She has been through so much and its been a long time coming for her, she did it!!

I really believe all of these girls are going to do BIG things with their lives, they are amazing, hard-working, talented, incredibly beautiful moms with big dreams and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them and where He is going to take them! I couldn’t be more proud of these girls!!!

-Kylie Bradley

Fishfest 2017

Wait…Did you just say Transparent Productions is offering us a space to have a YoungLives booth at Fishfest at the Honda Center? Whaaattttt???? Within days, the offer became even bigger – they wanted to show a teen testimonial video AND to allow Myrna to share on the main stage for a couple of minutes about YoungLives. ONLY GOD. Psalm 90:17 has always been my verse for my volunteering time with YoungLives “May the favor of the Lord rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us.” And again, I saw Him showing favor on the ministry and preparing us for what He has next.

Instantly we knew this was a big opportunity to share the mission of YoungLives with a much broader audience. Not just for North OC YoungLives but for Young Life – the national organization. We wanted people to visit the booth, to hear more, to be interested in the mission, to be informed on the needs, to understand how passionate we feel about this group of teens being mentored, loved on, and ultimately reached for Christ.

Sue and I had the privilege of getting to do the booth set up. We watched the Transparent Production (shout out to these guys and gals – they are AMAZING) team bring the Honda Center to life – from a quiet, large space to a bustling, light filled, music playing, Jesus worshipping celebration! We filled our booth with a prize wheel, cool little winnings, and lots of informational handouts about YoungLives as an organization and our local upcoming events.

After Mac Powell finished his set, the lights dimmed and then the video of Crystal’s testimony popped up on the jumbo tron screens. It was really powerful. Then the spotlight was on Myrna as she came on stage in front of a sold out crowd of 15,800 people and shared about YoungLives and Young Life. She shared articulately, passionately and professionally about the organization. It was super cool and those of us that were there were sooooooo proud of her!

The entire afternoon was active at our booth but after Myrna shared, it became insane! The wheel got spun hundreds of times, prizes were won, information handed out, Danny Gokey concert tickets sold (for his concert benefiting YoungLives!), and the conversations…So many powerful conversations. Standing back and watching the crew of volunteers that were there sharing their gifts was a definite highlight of the evening for me. Myrna making connections and getting peoples contact info, Chick calling out to people to spin the wheel and encouraging each one that spun in some way, Kim & Jim selling Danny Gokey tickets and promoting all the upcoming YL events, Adrienne on her feet assisting everyone in every which way, Tony was also a prize wheel master helping each person to walk away happy with their prize, Mike sharing about the upcoming Golf Tournament fundraiser with anyone wearing a polo shirt (his clue that they may be a golfer – haha!), Abby & Michael unable to be contained by a booth with their evangelical gifting were out in the midst of the crowd stopping folks to tell them about the ministry, Danny & Laurie spending time listening to peoples stories and sharing their passion for YL. 

Once again watching His people, I was reminded that the Lord “establishes the work of our hands for us.”

• Colleen Drew

One of the events that our volunteers and staff look forward to putting on each year is our YoungLives Prom! Several of the teen parents attend continuation school so they do not have the opportunity to participate in a prom or they attend traditional high school and childcare and finances can get in the way. Since the inception of our area we have been able to provide the teen parents with a special prom night. It is always a family affair for the teenage parents and their children. They show up with baby, diaper bag, and matching outfits not knowing what they are about to experience.

As we planned for our 5^th annual prom, we were in search of a venue that would offer a good space for fun and dancing and a space to offer childcare in a central location. We ended up finding Halecrest Park and Tennis Club and it ended up being a perfect fit! They were very accommodating and set-up went for all of our volunteers and vendors. I love how for events like this so many different individuals, groups, and churches come together to make the evening possible. Having others join us in bringing the vision to fruition is one way that I see God’s love on display. Not only His love for me, but for the teen moms and dads that we minister to.

The preparation for this day started months ago. I think the women’s group from Mariners Church HB starting thinking about decorations back in February! They showed up at 1pm to string lights, decorate the tables and deck the entire space out for our “Disney Ball” (the theme that the teens voted for). Jim West of the Barnabas Group OC hired Richard Boufford of Just Good Fun to cook us a phenomenal meal. He made paella and a crème brûlée type of dessert for us!

The teen parents were driven to prom by our volunteers and first had to drop of their children at the childcare room we had set up. From there they were given a golf cart ride across the field and were greeted by live music in the venue, beautiful decorations, and the scent of Rick’s Paella cooking on the outdoor patio. I loved seeing the joy on their faces throughout the evening. One mom was especially excited about this night as it was her senior year and she would be coming with her boyfriend who is a Marine. She wore a beautiful sequined dress and he came in uniform. As they rode on the back of the golf cart people honked and waved to them. For a moment I hope they felt the like royalty. I have to believe that this moment and the rest of the night was meant to be a glimpse of how Jesus loves them and views them. No matter where they have been and what they have done, Jesus laid down His life for them, just like for you and me. He sees them in their brokenness, in their exhaustion as they juggle school, parenting, a relationship and the usual drama that comes with being a teenager.

I love all of the friends and vendors that come out to put on this event. They give of their time and talents to make it an extra special night. Two of them in particular have been with us for 5 years now! Luke Sensebe of Premiere Events has been our DJ and provided sound/lighting to set the tone of the night and Chloe Atnip has set-up a photobooth at not only prom but several times a year! Both of these are really great because they help create lasting memories for all of us! This year we also had Tony J. Matos join us as a photographer and it was awesome to see how he captured the night.

This year’s prom felt like the best one yet. The teens danced the night away, got their pictures taken in the photo booth, enjoyed a delicious meal, socialized with each other and their mentors, received awards, and were encouraged to take Christ with them as they enter into the upcoming season. I am so grateful for each and every friend, partner and vendor that helped make this evening possible.

-Myrna Bittar

Do not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time you will reap a harvest of blessings.  Galatians 6:9

This past weekend we had the honor of hosting an appreciation lunch with the  volunteers from the Santa Ana Club. Our group was small and intimate. I personally love that we were able to sit down and have a conversation with our volunteers.

Since we had wrapped up our last club is in Santa Ana we wanted to have our lunch get together in the City of Santa Ana  at the 4^th Street Market in Downtown Santa Ana. The 4th Street Market in Downtown Santa Ana is a progressive culinary hub inspired by the spirit of creative chefs, food artisans, and small business entrepreneurs. The restaurant that we chose was Alta Baja Restaurant. Delilah and Lea at Alta Baja were able to help us with our event and they even helped us create our own menu for the lunch. The food was excellent, some of the choices were chilaquiles and blue corn waffles. It was delicious! We were able to thank our volunteers that are loyal,  sincere and full of Joy.

 
I was especially excited to be able to serve our special ladies that cook dinner for club each month. Laura has always gone our of her way to make sure that we always have a special dinner at Santa Ana Club. Laura is in charge of cooking and serving  for the Santa Ana Club. You can see her heart and passion as she has our meal cooked and prepared. It was such an honor to be able to serve a special lunch to our ladies that never get   to sit down with us at club.  We appreciate Laura and her team.

For the volunteers that were not able to make it to our volunteer events, we would like to take the opportunity to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We see a lot of you getting out of work or school and driving straight to club.  We also know that a lot of you have to leave your spouse or children at home while you joyfully serve at club. Most importantly your dedication doesn’t go unnoticed. Your hard labor of love is what makes club run smoothly month after month. The gift of time is priceless and we appreciate our volunteers.

As we come to a close and we are all excited about this upcoming summer. My prayer is that each and every volunteer  is able to spend time with their family and friends. We have an exciting year coming up for 2017- 2018.

I ask our Heavenly Father that He rejuvenates each one of us and brings us back to YL excited for what He has planned for this coming year. I look forward to our summer events that are coming up, they are all a lot of fun. I personally love Pancakes in the Park and the summer home/pool events.

1 Corinthian 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

With Gratitude and much Love,

Maria Randall

Well we wrapped up our last club in Huntington Beach for the school year!!! Crazy right?! Time flies when you’re having a ton of fun!! I am going to try my best to recap the night for those of you that were not able to be there.

The night started out with a delicious dinner of BBQ chicken,rice,salad,watermelon and rolls ( I mean do our food people treat us well or what) Super blessed and super delicious.

From there we did a cake decorating contest with two teams of girls while the others cheered them on! I loved this because I got to see their creative side come out and for them to just have fun, get messy and create something is beautiful to me. It was too hard to pick a winner so they both ended up winning and taking the cakes home! So fun! We got the privilege of having Tony Gomez come and share his testimony with us which was powerful. I literally saw jaws drop all throughout his story, after the message he got to talk and pray with a lot of teen moms and dads. We ended the night with a little craft, we made braided head bands, super easy and cute!

“It takes a village,” they say when it comes to having children. I know I say it all the time too but each time I do I believe it more than the time before. This is our 5th year of appreciating the village that makes YoungLives in North Orange County possible. Our area is run on 2 staff members and a whole lot of volunteers!

Last week we had a couple of intimate gatherings to appreciate our club volunteers. It was so sweet to see the leaders of each time step up to plan and host their events. We still have some more scheduled this month but I just wanted to share a few pictures of the ones that have already taken place.

This year at YoungLives, we volunteers were encouraged to help the ministry by giving back financially through a “Passion Project”. These projects can be anything, from running a marathon to silent auctions, hairstyling, photography or a garage sale. We were excited about the fact that all proceeds that were raised by these passion projects would be 100% matched by a generous donor! This got everyone thinking about how they could help raise money for YoungLives.

My friend Cristen began researching details on doing a baby bottle “change drive” this  is a fundraiser where you hand out baby bottles and ask people to fill them with spare change. After researching this, Cristen got excited about it and asked me to help her. I agreed! What this entailed was buying blank baby bottles, putting a YoungLives label on them and an information slip inside the bottle. Once we were done prepping the bottles, it was time to hand them out. We made our first announcement at a life group, and everyone agreed to take a bottle and fill it with spare change. We were so excited! That next Sunday we announced the campaign at our church, we had ordered 240 bottles and we ran out that first Sunday, we were ecstatic! We ordered 150 more bottles on Monday morning and plan on giving them all away!

Now, you may be thinking, like I was,”how much money could baby bottles full of change possibly raise?” This is the exciting part, the average for one bottle of change is $23.00-$25.00.

That means that there is the potential of raising $6000.00 which becomes $12000.00 with our donor match!

I think that this is a great example of how the Lord increases our giving. Its amazing how a seemingly small thing can reap so much. The money that we raise with the baby bottles will be used to send our teen moms and babies to a week long summer camp where they will have an opportunity to meet Jesus. Lives could be changed with our change!

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10.

-Laurie Bradley

Well we wrapped up our last club in Santa Ana for the school year!!! Crazy right?! Time flies when you’re having a ton of fun!! I am going to try my best to recap the night for those of you that were not able to be there.

If I could describe the night in one word, that word would be “beautiful” from the moment those teen moms and babies walk into the room I see beauty, all the amazing volunteers that show up faithfully every month to pour into the kids and love on them month after month there is so much beauty in that! Even the dinner was beautiful, chicken & beef tacos, salad, nachos, rice,beans, fruit, and tres leeches cake!! I mean come on!!

After dinner was game time, we played “never have I ever” I love this game because you can really get to know each other quickly just through this game. You start by sitting in a giant circle with one person in the middle, that person has to yell out something they’ve never done like “never have I ever got stung by a bee!” and then everyone that has got stung by a bee has to get up and run to a new seat. It’s super fun and easy to learn!! We had the privilege of having Jasmine Henderson come share with us, what I loved was she had us all stay in the seated circle and she did most the talk sitting as well, it felt very laid back and intimate.

Let me tell you though, she blew it out of the water with her message on laying all your “mountains” or trials at Jesus’ feet. She shared her personal story of being a single mom and athlete and the struggles that come with that.

When she was done talking she had us all turn to our neighbors and share what our biggest “mountains” in our own lives were, she had us promise to each other that whatever was shared would not leave that place. This was a such a sweet time, I really believe there is healing when you can be vulnerable with someone knowing you can share anything and everything trusting that person is not going to tell anyone else.

At the end of this we prayed giving all these things to the Lord, then she did an alter call at the very end, I believe a couple of teens raised their hands. Praise God!! 

Later we did a quick craft of rose water body mist (great stuff)  thanks Tracy Sumner! Lastly, I think this was my favorite part, during the craft the guy leaders and teen dads came over and handed each girl a lotion set and necklace for Mothers Day. It made me tear up watching the girls receive them feeling so surprised by these gifts yet so loved and appreciated.

It made me think of the Father heart of God for these girls, some of them experienced hurt done by men and even their own fathers. It was so cool to watch them receive the gifts, I couldn’t help but think of their heavenly Father who loves them so much and thinks of them as precious rubies.

I mean if ALL of that is not beautiful than I don’t know what is!! I think seeing these girls slowly open up and realize how Jesus sees them is the most beautiful thing in the world. How blessed we are to be able to play a small part in Gods BIG plan for these teens.

I hope I got everything, I could go on and on about this night because it truly was incredible but I will just leave you with this verse that I’m sure you all know but I think it is a great reminder.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.

Isaiah 61:1-3.

-Kylie Bradley