Langley Youth Unlimited

I wanted to share with you some of the opportunities and challenges that we are facing this year.

The first is this crazy ministry we get to be a part of. We are bursting at the seams with opportunities.  We are seriously considering buying a second bus as we regularly have to send extra vehicles to pick kids up for our Wednesday programs, many of whom stay late for our Spiritual Life small group time. This fall, thanks to a super awesome youth pastor volunteer, we put our foot in the door of another school—Langley Fine Arts. Unfortunately, I had to turn down 3 other schools requesting our youth workers because we just don’t have the capacity for it yet. On top of all that we started a mobile drop-in centre called Street Life! There are some really cool things happening right now!

The second is that I have enrolled in Arrow Leadership’s Emerging Leaders Program. Their purpose is to develop leaders who are led more by Jesus, who lead more like Jesus, and who lead more to Jesus. This …

“Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving.  We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life...all of our life.”  - Henri Nouwen

When listening to stories of those around me, I hear the struggles they face. Illness, pain, abuse, injustice and the like offer many a living hell each day.  I find myself saying that I wish I could wave a magic wand and take it away.  So I pray. After all, I don’t have the ability to change the impossible things about the world, but He does.

I’ll admit, I can get frustrated when these prayers don’t get answered how I want.  So I act. After all I don’t want those I pray for to get the wrong impression of God. What kind of support do they need while we wait for the impossible to happen?  I try to use the resources I have to help care for people, if it is a tangible gift or simply a listening ear.  Some of these things turn out not to be as impossibl…

Hello everyone,

 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season!

For myself, it was a time of refreshment and growth. I found it was essential for myself to consider Christ in this season, and not just reflect on his birth but also his life. Who is Christ, that we would name a holiday after his birth that has lasted for so many years? What makes Him different than other people? A thought to consider as we just spent Christmas with our family and friends.

A further update on my Christmas - it was the best Christmas I have ever had! I saw my friends and family on Christmas day, we played mini hockey and went to the skate park with my mini bmx. Having fun with my friends really helped me to relax from the busyness of 2016. This break came just in time as I am now at three and a half days working.

Due to my increase in hours, I have been able to take on greater responsibilities. I am spending extended hours in Langley Secondary School, which includes collaborating with the counsellors t…

This year I am involved in a few different programs so I just wanted to give you a quick update.

I am at Yorkson Creek Middle School two days a week, running field/gym games for students. We also run a mobile drop-in center at Yorkson called “Street Life”. The purpose is to provide a safe and fun place for youth to hang out and connect with positive adults and their peers.

On Wednesday’s I help at our youth drop-in center where we provide a safe space for youth to hang out. We offer a community dinner for the students to enjoy together and run a program called “Spiritual Life” that students are welcome to stay for to talk about deeper topics in a safe environment.

I am also thankful to have the opportunity to invest in a peer mentorship program called “Momentum”. This is the program that I started volunteering with in 2006 and I have had the priviledge to watch the program grow and develop young leaders in the community.  This program literally saved my life as a young person and I …

- pray for our Street Life program, as we begin a New Year - pray that the community would be receptive and that local youth would engage in our mobile drop-in

- pray for our programs as we begin the New Year - pray for staff energy, youth engagement and for youth to desire to go deeper than they did in the fall

- prayer for the staff who are continually fundraising

- pray for S, who is transferring schools - pray she would find a community to be connected to

- pray for wisdom for our team as we look to the future and plan ahead

For years, Danny has had the dream to renovate a trailer into a mobile drop-in centre that would have the ability to meet youth where they are. This past fall, this dream became a bit more of a reality as we purchased a trailer and signed an agreement with Yorkson Creek Middle School to use their parking lot as the location for our Street Life program.
The intent of Street Life is to meet the youth where they are. Often times, youth do not have the means to access a program if transportation is required. With a mobile drop-in centre, we have the ability to go into the community where the youth are. Our trailer is currently being equipped with a video game system, sound system, concession stand area and storage so that we can provide a great outdoor experience for youth.
In October we began our soft-launch for Street Life. This took research, price comparing and product purchasing in order to ensure that Street Life could provide basic needs each week: shelter, light and heat. After g…

Name: Derian Julihn Title: Assistant Director Start Date w/ YU: January 2007 (i think) Favourite Part of Working w/ Langley YU: Hanging out with my young friends at the high school smoke pit What Brought Me to the Team: a particularly good cup of coffee with an old friend (it’s a long story but that’s actually how it started)
Spouse: Allison or just Al Date I Was Married: August 16, 2003  (I really hope I get this one right) Where I Grew Up: Ladner High School: Delta Secondary School Kids: Sawyer 7, Cohen 5
Favourite: Spare Time Activities: Reading Sci-fi and Fantasy Novels, Brewing & drinking ridiculously good cups of espresso, and playing Uno and Lego with my boys Food: anything exotic: sushi, curry, pho Book of the Bible: definitely the gospels Movie: Memento Book: Hyperion by Dan Simmons