Many of you are acquainted with Steve York. Steve is a fine young man who serves as a missionary/disciple maker on several college campuses across California. I have been consulting with Steve concerning ways we can make our Church 180 (youth ministry) more effective. As you may know, over 70% of high school graduates give up their church life and in too many cases, their entire walk with Christ, within their first year of college. This problem has a variety of causes and the chief cause is strongly related to how well grounded they are in their faith. We don’t want our youth becoming part of that statistic.
Steve is associated with a mission organization called All Nations and also with CRU (originally Campus Crusade for Christ), and he is seeing an amazing springing up of campus ministries across our state. What is undoubtedly a tribute to his hard work, and an exciting part of his ministry, is the fact that several of the campus ministries he is involved with are being headed up by young people he has discipled in the past. This is exactly the way it is supposed to work, not only on school campuses but on church campuses as well.
Here’s the good news. Steve has agreed to volunteer as Associate Pastor/Youth for the Journey Church. His plan is to help organize and train leaders for this ministry as well as establish a model for effective youth ministry. Many of you have heard him speak during our regular church service in the past, and he is more than willing to assist in this capacity as needed. For me, this is really an amazingly happy announcement to make.
Steve and his wife Janelle reside in Twain Harte with their two children, Josiah who is 16 and Olivia who is 14.
We are currently planning an Installation service for Steve on Sunday, May 15th with a welcome potluck immediately following the morning service. We also plan on honoring our 2016 high school graduates that day.
A side note is that Steve has not asked for a salary while in this position but as a missionary, he has yet to reach 100% of his support. If you wish to join his support team please make arrangements at www.allnationsdm.org.
I invite you to come join us on Sunday in the fellowship of loving and caring people! God bless.
I LOVE BEING PASTOR AT THE JOURNEY!!!
Pastor Jim