By Eric Scofield, Regional Director
Young Life Southcoast Region
Sometimes we can see a crowd ... I mean, sometimes I do. I have been at camp now for a month. I have seen thousands of faces, heard hundreds of stories and seen hundreds of kids respond to the Gospel by turning to Christ.
Sometimes there is a kid who rises above the crowd. It is as if this kid represents all the faces. In Luke 15 where there is the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son — there is such a celebration of "the one" that is found.
"Leave the 99, and go after the ONE."
The ONE for me arrived last week. This kid Loren came into camp and was immediately an icon. He looked and dressed so uniquely, and carried himself differently than any of the other kids. He said he was an atheist. While sitting with me at lunch one day, he said that he was thrilled to give up drinking for the week. He also admitted to leaving his satanic bible at home for the week.
As the week progressed, Loren had so many exchanges with our team — work crew, summer staff, camp staff, assigned team — everyone was loving on Loren. Some of the summer staff guys even painted their fingernails black, and on the last day of camp put some eye shadow on to be "with" Loren.
Loren, who lives just down the street from camp in Williams, Ariz., met Christ and stood up at the Say-so to an all-camp ovation. (I had never seen this before.) He met Christ. Amazing.
He went home, and two days later walked the three miles uphill back to camp. He just wanted to check in. We greeted him with hugs and acceptance. He just wanted to see if this place was real — and that people were not doing all the same things for other kids. It was real.
Loren went to the Williams, Ariz., area Campaigners last night. He burned his satanic bible. He is thinking of doing work crew third session.
Loren is the face in the crowd for me this summer. What we — you and me — are about in this crazy mission of Young Life actually works. Kids are meeting Christ.
Thank you for helping this take place — thank you for helping us go after the ONE. In this case, Loren.
(In my quiet time yesterday God laid these passages (below) on my heart, then this morning I read this article!)
Luke 15:8-10 (Message) …imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (Message) Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
In YL (and in life!!) we have amazing freedom in Christ and such a unique opportunity, that we get to share, walking along side – with and among – these teenagers (and/or others), just like Paul talks about, just like Jesus would have done. Our YL area has grown immensely this past year and that the idea of all those new faces can be overwhelming and can make us, as leaders, feel that our time spent isn’t accomplishing much. But I know that God will align each of us with that ONE (or two!) - We just have to trust that He will guide us to let His work be done in that student’s life.
Hide His truth in your heart and let Him lead the way! Wouldn’t it be awesome to be part of the party with the Angels in celebration of just that ONE?
