The Power of Perseverance

-


It was ten years ago when April and I moved into Langley.  We didn’t know a single young person.  We were apart from our closest friends and family.  We didn’t know the neighborhoods. We just had a dream to see youth have the means to live a healthy life: Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually, Socially and Spiritually. We wondered if there was a place for us and for Youth Unlimited in this community.

At first things looked bright, but eventually it seemed like the dream was turning into a nightmare.  Our bus broke down, our relationships at the schools changed, the youth turned back to their old ways, our funding tanked, our programs were canceled, our family struggled, and even my health deteriorated.  It was then that we realized that God had not called us to be successful, but to be faithful. I felt a bit like Noah – spending his whole life working on a lifelong project that in the end only saved eight people.  At times it would have been easy to walk away, to admit failure and move on, but instead we decided to persevere.

It hasn’t been easy by any means, but in the midst of working through these struggles we found God using us in unexpected ways, and showing us that through faithfulness in the midst of our failures he has brought more success than we could have imagined through the messiness of our lives. 

We went from experimenting with Youth Unlimited launching in Langley to leading a multi-staffed team.  In my time here I have led fourteen different staff. There are currently seven staff in Langley and we are in process of hiring up to three more.  We have four interns lined up for this fall and large numbers of volunteers helping in various roles. We have signed partnerships with schools, community agencies, local churches, and our staff are being asked to share our experiences all around the globe.  We are connecting with hundreds of kids from all across the community and are witnessing many young people experience significant transformation in their lives each week. 

There are still trials, difficulties and things to iron out, but God has proven his faithfulness when we were willing to extend faithfulness to him.  Last week I was talking with a woman in her 80’s who recounted to me with a huge smile on her face of the impact Youth Unlimited had made on her in the 1940’s.  What we see happening here in 2015 may well be just the start of what God has in mind to do.

 - Danny Ferguson

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Renewed Vision

-
Image
Jon will be taking over as Area Director as I step into my new role One evening after putting my kids to bed and tidying the house I finally got a chance to sit. As I did, my vision suddenly turned into an array of bright shapes and colors, as if I was viewing the world through a kaleidoscope. I was able to make my way to bed and fall asleep. The next day everything seemed fine.   Losing vision is a scary thing. I have an elderly neighbor I visit often who faces blindness more and more each day. It affects independence, safety and perception. While this incident only lasted a short time for me, his experience was echoing through my mind and I knew I should get things sorted out. I checked in with my eye doctor. She told me, after an examination, that I’d experienced an ocular migraine. She informed me that unless I took steps to reduce my stress I’d likely have more frequent and severe reactions. My family doctor confirmed this and showed high concern for my health in this
Read more

Wandering in the Desert

-
Image
At our first Alpha meeting. As I write this I find myself walking through a spiritual desert. No this isn’t a victory story I’m writing about. You know the ones: how I once was lost but now I’m found. No, I still find myself very much in a dry and parched land. Perhaps you can relate? Now I know that Jesus changes our lives and makes everything better… right? At least that seems to be the story we like to tell. Sure there’s room for the occasional desert (as long as it doesn’t last too long.) We like stories of victory and yet the bible is full of failures and broken people that God somehow in his mercy seems to use in spite of themselves. In fact, one of prevailing narratives of scripture is a story about wandering around in a desert wilderness for 40 years and this gives me hope in the midst of my mess. I’ve come to realize my spiritual life follows the pattern of Exodus much more closely than I sometimes care to admit. It started off with celebration, as God’s power freed
Read more

Endings and Beginnings

-
Image
2020 has been similar to a drama-filled movie; full of suspense, compelling characters and a plot line that keeps you at the edge of your seat. But I believe I can speak for many of us when I say that the movie has gone on far too long and any more plot twists may have us getting up and leaving the theatre. Langley Youth Unlimited has not gone unscathed in that we have also needed to adapt, adjust and overcome many different scenarios. Our youth work went fully virtual back in March and we have been relieved that as restrictions have been loosening, we have been able to resume in-person youth work. It may be masked, distanced and have the slight scent of hand sanitizer, but we are so grateful to be able to meet with our young people in person again. And we know that it has been a huge relief for a lot of them as well. Our team was also incredibly grateful to be a part of our normal summer program, Gator Shades. This program is run out of Walnut Grove Secondary School and is aimed at st
Read more