Young Life Cleveland West

A few weekends ago Alex and I got to bring 10 of our friends from Cleveland State with us to College Weekend at Rockbridge. We were a small but mighty group in a room of 500 college students from Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio.   It. Was. A. Blast.   There is something about getting away from the pressures of life and school to just be together. Of course— it helps when the space is beautiful, the food is great, and the laughter just keeps coming.   We got to hear about and discuss together who the person of Jesus is, what He has done, and how He loves us and desires a relationship with us. We had the opportunity to sit in silence for 20 minutes (under the most stars we’ve ever been able to see— incredible!) and we were invited to consider what a life with Christ would look like.   As I was driving a friend back to her apartment Sunday night I asked her what she was walking away with from the weekend and she told me, “I think t...

I've heard it said that time and energy are the two most valuable, and limited, resources in the world. That is a well-known reality among Young Life leaders. While some of their peers spend slow evenings at home watching the same episodes of their favorite Netflix series for the 4th or 5th (or 10th) time, Young Life leaders are at the big soccer game or concert, talking with and cheering on students they've been spending countless hours with and a lot of energy on, to get to know them. Keeping up with the fast-paced lives of students means that leaders are usually eager for opportunities to slow down and experience real, meaningful rest. That being said, we cherished every moment with our volunteers on our annual overnight retreat this Fall. In just 24 hours, we packed in opportunities to sing worship songs, share stories about the semester so far, and spend time reading the Bible and praying together. Not only that, but we had some fun playing a surprisingly competitive scr...

"Clubble" kickoff and paint war blows everyone away! Last Monday, we had our "metro" kickoff club event, where we packed about 150 students from 7 local high schools into a giant bubble, made a mess inside with a paint war, and capped it off with a great message by Fairview volunteer leader, Madeline Nieder. With heavy rain in the forecast, we had to adapt last-minute and cram this 50 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, and 12 ft. tall bubble inside the Rock Point Church building in Westlake, which only added to the crazy experience. The only thing that matched the energy inside the bubble that night was the buzzing conversation about it in each school the following morning. This past Monday, we started local clubs in our individual communities and were thrilled with the momentum it carried as more kids are coming to experience abundant life and hear about Jesus Christ, who we believe is the primary source of the life, fun, and adventure that every kid longs for.