Lunch clubs have been quite a hit this year! We have one lunch club at University City High School on Wednesdays, and one at Madison High School on Thursdays. CPMA stands for Creative Performing Media Arts. We have been wanting to start a lunch club at CPMA for a couple of months now. We needed to have two student representatives, and a teacher to host it in their classroom. Robert Scott, who has been in Wyldlife for two years now and is a student at CPMA, has been trying to figure out which teachers to ask. We have been praying for the last two months for a teacher, and to get the club started. Some schools are very difficult to get started, as administration is very hesitant to let in outside religious groups.

Just a week ago Robert told me that he found a teacher for me to call. I called her and she said that since she started three years ago as the music teacher at CPMA, she has been waiting for a student to approach her to start something like this. She had asked when she first came on staff, and was told that it had to be initiated by a student. She said that Robert went up to her and barely got the words out about starting a lunch Bible club and she said “yes!”

Ina Soliz is an answer to prayer. Nate Landis started the Urban Youth Collaborative, which is the umbrella for the lunch clubs. He has partnered with Horizon Urban Ministries, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the San Diego Presbytery. Sixteen high schools and now one middle school are provided with a speaker, pizzas, and Bibles every week! And here comes the big news:

Nate, Jonny Sherfy and I met in the office today for our kick-off of the CPMA lunch club. Nate brought one case of waters and five pizzas. Little did we know that “Faith Club, Free Pizza” was announced to ALL classrooms this morning. We got to Ina Soliz’s classroom FULL of students, and I asked her if her class hadn’t gotten out yet. She was bewildered and said “No, they are here for the lunch club!” Altogether I counted 80+ kids! Nate gave a talk on our physical hunger and spiritual hunger, our need for love, and how only Jesus can fill that need. At the end he invited all the kids into a relationship with Jesus. Twenty kids raised their hands! The kingdom grew today before our eyes. Praise God for this! Those 80 kids were respectful, excited, inquisitive…I can’t wait to go back and see them again!

Matthew 18:2-3 says: 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our next Car Wash to raise money for camp will be May 31st from

10am-1pm in the Northminster parking lot! See you there!

(Free, accepting donations)

Chelsea

Help kids get to CAMP! Tomorrow-

Car wash 10am-2pm FREE, accepting donations

Thank you!

Chelsea

Let me introduce myself, my name is Chelsea Knox! Formerly Chelsea Cartlidge. Married life is wonderful!

We are back in the swing of things with Young Life and Wyldlife clubs, University City and Madison High lunch clubs. Still waiting for the “in” at CPMA Middle school to start a lunch club.

Jonny Sherfy hopes to come on Student Staff in the near future, please consider becoming a monthly donor for him. (Click Here to area CA478.) For him to come on student staff, he will need to raise money for three months in advance. Jonny leads Young Life and Wyldlife, and also a Tuesday night boys’ Bible study.

Congratulations to Jessie Swann, a Wyldlife leader and junior at Madison High School. She just found out today that she was accepted to serve for a month at Woodleaf this summer! She hopes to be on Young Life staff in the future, and has really grown spiritually over the past year.

Camp is coming up! Wyldlife kids will go to Oakbridge July 3-8, Young Life kids to Woodleaf July 19-25. Leaders made a “no way” list a few weeks ago of kids we thought would never come to camp, but that we would pray for. Already 4 of our “no way” kids have signed up wanting to go to camp! I just got goosebumps… But like every year, already many kids are asking “How will I go to camp? I can’t afford it.” We want these kids at camp! Please consider sponsoring one of these kids to camp- fully or partially- everything helps! We will start having car washes this month to help kids with fundraising.

The Young Life San Diego County Region Auction and Drawing is coming up on May 4th! Dinner tickets are $60, or $70 at the door. Please contact me (619) 322-7586 if you would like to attend. From 4-6 is the Silent Auction and appetizers. Dinner and program will be from 6pm-8pm. Drawing tickets are $50, which goes to our area. These tickets make great gifts! Prizes are:

• A week-long trip to Hilton Head, SC!
• A trip to Kauai!
• Airfare for two and overnight accommodations to San Francisco for a Nordstrom $1,000 shopping spree and lunch
• Aspen Ski trip
• Carnival Cruise
• Two night stay at the Hotel Del Coronado
• Plazma TV
• Calloway golf irons
• San Diego bay cruise- dinner for 10 on a private yacht for 4 hours
• A day at the La Costa spa!

Our Prayer Requests:

• Jonny Sherfy raise support to come on Student Staff
• Starting CPMA lunch club
• Money raised for camp
• 100 Auction drawing tickets sold

How you can help:

• Become a donor for Jonny Sherfy
• Pray for our area
• Sponsor a kid to camp, help them have the best week of their life!
• Come experience an amazing evening at our Auction!
• Purchase drawing tickets

God Bless you all,
Chelsea Knox
San Diego Young Life-Intern
(619) 322-7586

This past weekend we had our Utah Reunion Overnight from Saturday to Sunday. We had a nice time of fellowship and watched two movies. On Sunday we had a wonderful guest musician, Haley Montgomery, who volunteers with our Young Life group for different events. Monday night we had campaigners. Volunteer leader Mark Presley gave a talk on Matthew 13- the farmer scattering seed. We discussed in small groups what it means to be on the good soil. I had a great, lively discussion with the girls group about why bad things happen, our identity in Christ, and how we live.

Wednesday we had lunch club at University City high school. About 25 kids came this week, ate pizza, and heard about John 10. Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and came to give us life to the full. Wednesday evening we had Wyldlife campaigners. We still have a small Wyldlife group, with plans to start a lunch club at CPMA Middle School where we will meet new kids. I feel like this smaller group we have right now is a blessing- being able to really pour into the kids’ lives. The students who come now will be like student leaders as our group grows, since they are being poured into right now. Stephen Wescott, who is a volunteer leader and a junior at Madison High school, led the talk about forgiveness. He used scripture from Matthew 18 — the story of the unforgiving debtor.

Thursday at lunch club there were 25 kids and 5 leaders, plus Mr. Runyan. Mr. Runyan is an amazing man of God. Mark Presley gave a talk on prayer from Matthew 6. At the end, I saw one student go over to Mr. Runyan and ask for him to pray personally for him. Mr. Runyan laid hands on this young man, and prayed for him. God is alive at Madison! We made a list of prayer requests in the big group, took a few minutes of silent prayer. We will keep bringing the list back each week, adding to it, reflecting on how God is answering our prayers- just not always the answer we would like to receive. He is faithful.

Today we will head up to Oakbridge for the Women’s Retreat! There are a few women from Northminster Presbyterian Church going, 4 Clairemont Young Life leaders, and 13 Clairemont Young Life kids. The leaders and kids are going to do work crew for the weekend. This is completely volunteered time! They will be working very hard washing dishes in the dining hall, serving tables, cleaning up, then setting up all over again for the next meal. They might get a couple hours of free time on Saturday, in which they will do a study on Philippians 2. This weekend they will learn what it means to put others first and serve joyfully! The students who have done work crew before said it was a great experience. I am so proud of them.

I am also very thankful in God has answered my prayers and our budget needs for CA478. Thank you all who have been so supportive of this ministry- I hope that you feel it is your ministry, too.

God Bless you!

Chelsea

Hi everybody! I am glad to be back in San Diego. I just finished two and a half weeks in Florida at the Young Life All Staff Conference, then a week of Winter Training. The All Staff Conference was amazing, with 4,000 Young Life staff people from around the world. Jack Hanna, Jeff Foxworthy, Donald Miller, Dale Bruner, Jars of Clay, Nicole C. Mullens, and Bill Stein were some of our special guests! At Winter Training I took a graduate level course, which was Practical Theology. I loved the class, and feel better equipped for ministry.

This week we jumped back into Young Life, Wyldlife, and lunch clubs! Monday night we had Campaigners, Wednesday lunch club at U.C. High, Wednesday night Wyldlife Campaigners, and Thursday Madison lunch club! It is great to see the kids and leaders again. One of the high school girls who went on the ski trip, Jessie, told me that she wants to be on staff with Young Life someday! We met Tuesday to discuss what that process might look like. Jonny Sherfy also hopes to be on Student Staff in the near future, as well as Stephen Wescott.

On a personal note, Matt (my boyfriend of three years, also a volunteer leader,) surprised me and came out to Florida for the last few days I was there, and proposed on the beach! We plan to get married in Lake Tahoe March 15! God Bless, Chelsea