Last night Northminster hosted the Young Life San Diego Region’s All City Club. The “official count” was 389 kids and Young Life leaders. This is an event that we at Northminster look forward to hosting as it gives us a chance to see God at work in our community. The event last night was the largest All City Club that we’ve hosted, bringing together kids from all over San Diego county.

Club is one of Young Life’s Five C’s and is the primary weekly event of the Young Life program. All City Club is just a larger scale version of what Young Life Club is like every week. It is where “controlled chaos” happens. A common response regarding the question as to what club is, is that you just have to see it to believe it.

Pictures from the 2008 All City Club may be found on our Photo Gallery along with pictures from the 2007, 2006, and 2001 All City Club events that we’ve hosted.

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

Last Saturday the 19th we sold cotton candy at Alcott elementary’s fair and handed out Young Life fliers. Sunday at church my Regional Director, Eric Scofied, visited Northminster! Afterwards Jaclyn, a Wyldlife leader, and I went to Dana Becker’s soccer game. Way to go Dana, she scored two goals! We then picked up Matt and four other YL girls, met about 10 other people from Young Life at the Rock church 7pm service, followed by In and Out burgers.

We had a really good campaigner night with Young Life this week. Hannah, a leader, shared her testimony. Wednesday we had lunch club at UC High, where I continue to be amazed by all the kids we are getting to know. I hope to bring some of them to camp this summer. Wednesday was also great at Wyldlife! Jaclyn Johnson lead the talk! Way to go, Jaclyn! Thursday was Madison High lunch club. Friday night some of our Young Life kids raised money by helping at Parents Night Out. Saturday was our car wash, where kids also raised money to go to camp.

COMING EVENTS:

MEXICO! We have TEN! people from our Young Life group interested in the Mexico mission trip May 24-26! If you cannot go on this trip, please consider sponsoring one of the Young Life kids. What an amazing opportunity to help them grow in their faith through service. A huge thank you for offering to sponsor someone- you know who you are

CAMP! We have 31 kids signed up who are interested in going to Woodleaf, 11 of those would be first-timers. 30 of those 31 would need financial assistance. 100% of those would have the time of their lives and grow closer to Jesus! 100% of you reading this would be blessed by sending a kid to camp, and receiving an update on what happened that week! Help us change lives! We have 8 Wyldlife kids interested in going to Oakbridge! We hope to plan a day trip up there to go swimming and get them excited about camp.

NEW LEADER TRAINING! This is required for old and new leaders alike. Have you ever been curious as to how we train our leaders? Ever wanted to become a leader? Here are the requirements:

1. You love Jesus and
2. you love kids.

Of course we do a background check as well. Our training will be a series of four Thursday sessions from 7pm-9pm. The dates are May 8, 15, 29, and June 5. At these sessions we will share a meal, have guest speakers (so far we have the amazing Markus Watson on May 8th, and the amazing Eric Scofield for May 29!) and have seasoned leaders help train new leaders. It will be an amazing time of fellowship and learning. Come! Be a leader! Help change kids’ lives! We want you there, we need you! The more leaders we have, the more kids we can reach in our Clairemont community.

Our Clairemont Area Leader Camping trip will be June 27-29. Fun, fellowship, planning, CAMPING!! great food, T-SHIRT!!

San Diego Regional AUCTION and Dinner! May 4, 4pm-8pm at the Bernardo Winery. Do not miss this incredible evening. The dinner will be unbelievably delicious. Young Life programs are always over-the-top. You will be wined and dined. You will be entertained. You will be excited about the ministry going on in the San Diego Region. Cost is $60 a person, $70 at the door. Let me know if you are interested in:

1. Buying tickets to the Auction (we currently have about 18 people from Northminster/YL going)
2. You would like to buy one of our drawing tickets for $50, or 5 for $200 (prizes are incredible, and $40 of each ticket goes DIRECTLY to our ministry!!!!)
3. You want to donate a great Auction item
4. You would like to provide a meal for one of our Leader Training nights! May 8, 15, 29, or June 5?

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Getting kids to camp
2. That Jonny will be able to come on YL Student Staff (he needs to raise his budget)
3. That Jessie Swann will be able to fulfill her commitment to doing Work Crew this summer
4. Successful Auction
5. Mexico mission trip: funding, kids going, leaders going, great experience and safety
6. New leaders, excellent training time
7. PRAISE GOD- we found a teacher at CPMA middle to host a lunch club! Yay for Ina Soliz!

Thank you, God Bless!
Chelsea Knox
chelseanicoleknox@yahoo.com
(619) 322-7586

Sermon by Eric Scofield on April 20, 2008

This is the fifth sermon in the series titled “MythBusters”

Eric Scofield is the Regional Director for Young Life in the San Diego County Region. Northminster has a partnership with Young Life.

Theme – Everyone is designed for significance. Impacting the lives of others could be one of the most ways that most people would say creates true significance. Sharing who the person of Jesus is to others (which is a frightening thought) is taught as evangelism. Jesus shows us that to have an impact on a persons life is a process, that starts with standing on the shores of people’s lives, asking questions, pushing out, and eventually heading to deep water. Going aboard peoples boats (lives) is a way to share Jesus, and with His help, have true significance.

The movie below was used as an illustration by Eric to show how he would introduce Jesus if given the opportunity.

 

 Standard Podcast [32:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (95)

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

Happy New Year, everyone!

Last weekend we got back from our Young Life Utah snowboarding trip. We took 9 kids. One of these kids was Phillip, who had never been to anything with Young Life before. He only heard about the trip through our lunch club at Madison High School.

Phillip is a senior and plays football and basketball. Two of my friends sponsored Phillip to go on the trip for free. He had never been snowboarding. He had never even seen snow before!

Skylar, one of our leaders, lent Phillip everything he needed for the trip- snowboard, boots, and clothes. All he had to do was to show up.

I wish you all could have seen Phillip’s excitement. He skipped the snowboarding lesson on the first day, and just went for it. He was out snowboarding more than any of us combined, and by day 3 was as good as the rest of us. When it was time to leave the mountain each day, some of us were so tired that we would be on the bus already, half an hour before it left. Phillip would come right from his last run, and hop on the bus about 5 minutes before it left, covered in snow. He didn’t want to miss a minute.

The last night of club, all the kids were invited into a relationship with Jesus. The other 8 of our kids had accepted Jesus into their lives, and were at all different places in their walks with God. Phillip loud and clear, was the first one you could hear repeating the worship leaders words of the prayer. When everyone was told they could open their eyes, there was Phillip’s hand raised (along with many, many others).

On the bus on the way home, he said to me across the aisle, “Chelsea, thank you.” “For what, Phillip?” “For making all of this happen.” Then he sang, somewhat off-key to the tune of Rockin around the Christmas tree — “Standing around on the Christmas tree,” just that line, over and over. It was pretty funny, and hard to miss his excitement and the impact this trip had on his life. I just had to share this story.

God Bless,
Chelsea