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
- Danny Ferguson
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