Young Life – Tobias Haglund and Kristi Fox

[00:00:00] here’s your host Kevin Conover bring

[00:00:06] welcome to educate for life I’m your host Kevin Conover my website is joined I educate for life dot o-r-g it’s 40

[00:00:13] online classes defending the truth of the Bible and on May 15th we have an awesome event coming up for those of you

[00:00:18] who are watching online I’m glad you’re joining us here we are we’ve got Tobias and Christy here in the studio with me

[00:00:26] and this this program will air on this upcoming Saturday but we’re streaming live on May 15th I’m gonna be joined by

[00:00:34] Eric bjur as well as Danny ray who has been on the radio both those guys have been on the radio with me we’re gonna be

[00:00:39] talking about faith in schools so are we allowed to share our faith in the public

[00:00:45] schools our teachers allowed to share their faith you know a lot of people have a lot of questions about that a lot of people are nervous and so they stay

[00:00:51] way way way way away from the issue they don’t want to you know violate any rules or laws and what we want to do is kind

[00:00:58] of through education relieve some of the fear people have about what they’re able

[00:01:04] to do and what they’re not able to do we’re not trying to stir the pot we just want to help people to be able to relax

[00:01:09] about what’s legal in the classroom as well as on the school campuses and so I

[00:01:15] hope you’ll join us it’s May 15th you can register at EFL Danny Raycom and if

[00:01:21] you put in the coupon code if you put in the code register early nospace register early you can get a free ticket to the

[00:01:27] event and Danny ray if you don’t know who he is he is a world world-class has

[00:01:33] been in all 50 states performing he’s an illusionist he’s a Christian and he uses his sleight of hand to be able to share

[00:01:40] the gospel with kids all over the world and he’s a fantastic guy and he’s amazing his skills are amazing and so

[00:01:47] Eric burea is an is an expert on the state education code and he’s gonna be sharing with us referring to code to so

[00:01:54] that we’re comfortable with what’s legal in the classroom and on school campuses and I’m gonna be sharing a little bit of

[00:01:59] apologetics so I hope you’ll join us that’s May 15th but my guest today I’ll give a little bit of an introduction

[00:02:05] here is Tobias Tobias I’m sorry how do you say your last name hagglund Hagelin

[00:02:11] Tobias hagglund okay just like it looks and his wife Kristen live in El Cajon and both were born and raised here in

[00:02:16] Southern California he was a San Diego college student and he’s been involved in young life in the local church now

[00:02:23] for nine years is that right yes it’s great that’s fantastic and you’re the area director for young

[00:02:28] life and you oversee all of East County yeah East County basically considering I’m the last area director before you

[00:02:35] kind of head out into nothingness and so yeah that’s there’s no area directors and yeah not that mountain on the

[00:02:41] mountain they’d be directing like the mountain lions yeah yeah okay I get it and we also have Kristi Foxx here with

[00:02:48] us she’s married to John Fox and you have three kids correct eighteen sixteen and thirteen yes sir

[00:02:53] wow that’s like right in the heat of everything right there so is it are your

[00:02:59] kids dramatic is it a lot of drama no okay they’re mellow okay well they might be listening so I should say and you’ve

[00:03:08] been on staff for 23 years as an area director 19 years serving also as the

[00:03:15] south coast regional director of Southern California correct that’s fantastic and you oversee young life in

[00:03:22] Orange County San Diego and Riverside yes well that’s a lot of responsibility is that all volunteer is that all Avant

[00:03:28] ear are you on staff I’m on staff yeah and once I’ve been on staff for 20

[00:03:33] factually for 24 years now that’s incredible well that’s so exciting I’m really excited to have both Christy and

[00:03:39] Tobias on the program here with us today and you know I think I’ve had the

[00:03:46] opportunity to interview people from a lot of different ministries teen challenges in East County sunshine Haven

[00:03:51] with Mary Rothman the the higher ground clubs and Fellowship of Christian

[00:03:58] Athletes and I think it’s so fantastic we are really blessed to have so many groups that are reaching out to young

[00:04:03] people and everything and I just kind of want to hear your story about how you got involved with young life and also

[00:04:10] how people can be praying and supporting and what kind of things you’re doing that maybe other groups aren’t doing or how your take or your angles a little

[00:04:16] bit differently and why don’t we start with you Tobias and just tell us you know what’s your background did you grow

[00:04:22] up in a Christian family and your are you native to San Diego you know so I’m not negative to San Diego I grew up in Paris

[00:04:29] California most people don’t know where that’s at unless they ask about the lake or the the racing fields out there but I

[00:04:35] went to school in Riverside and when I went to high school I liked a lot of

[00:04:40] kids which was experiencing a breakup of my parents in the home which is a sad thing to watch but for a lot of

[00:04:46] teenagers you know it’s like did you grow up in a Christian home it’s they’re not even thinking about that they just

[00:04:51] when there’s so much stress going on so I grew up around people of faith is what I’ll say and that that massively

[00:04:57] impacted my life but by the time I was 16 I was in a stage I really need to figure out what my faith of my life was

[00:05:03] going to be whether it was Christian or just what I believed about myself in general and so for the most part I wasn’t a believer of anything outside of

[00:05:10] just trying to survive a high school yeah the most part getting through all the through all the deal all the drama

[00:05:15] and all the relationships and everything else yeah I can make varsity if you can get first chair like all that stuff that

[00:05:20] you’re trying to do and so I was preoccupied with that but I got introduced to young life my senior year

[00:05:25] high school so there was a teacher at my high school named rusty Bailey who was my young life leader outside of school

[00:05:31] and so basically that relationship just started by he knew a lot of the students at the school he’s very vested there he

[00:05:37] cared about kids he wasn’t just there to kind of get the check and go home but he really cared deeply about the youth in

[00:05:42] his city and so he learned about my story for through some friends that I had known he was a coach of the girls soccer team and so he knew some of the

[00:05:48] other coaches and some of the other players and I had some friends on the swim team that were part of a what was called a young life club and at the time

[00:05:54] to be honest it’s anything when you’re not a believer anything Christian is is the kool-aid you know I didn’t want to drink it you know I don’t want anything

[00:06:00] to do with it but my friends were my friends and I I went to parties with

[00:06:05] them and to say I did everything with them and so they actually had to trick me into going to young live the first

[00:06:10] time they said hey were gonna go to a house party and it’s like I remember them going like you know we didn’t really lie and I was like now you did

[00:06:16] but we just let you think what you wanted yeah but I remember getting to

[00:06:22] young life and so my first experience with young life as I got there and I saw the same kids that I saw at the house

[00:06:27] parties I saw the same kids that I saw at school that were the bullies and the kids that were some of the outcasts you

[00:06:33] might you might think and so it took me a good 20 minutes to realize that I wasn’t a house party that’s I couldn’t find the

[00:06:39] alcohol anywhere I couldn’t find any of the stuff you’d normally see there yeah but the energy in the environment was the same and so I decided to stay and

[00:06:46] that that first time and it was that night that rusty Bailey got and that’s it right then that’s when I knew his young life because I knew he was a he

[00:06:53] was a Christian and he worked for this thing called young life you’re like yeah her volunteer there they did yeah they got me and once you’re all sitting down

[00:06:58] quiet like you can be a jerk but you’re not that much of a jerk yeah I walk out I almost did but he he cracked open the

[00:07:04] Bible uh up in front of in a living room of a family I didn’t know with with a bunch of dirty stinky teenagers sitting

[00:07:10] on the floor but me included and I remember he told the story of the bleeding woman and he talked about how

[00:07:16] this woman just had kind of tried everything else and nothing can work and that she thought that you know if Jesus

[00:07:22] has something if he’s as big as they say he is then maybe if I do this it was kind of a mix of if he’s who they say he

[00:07:28] is and I’m too scared to do more than just this and I remember resonating with that so much just hearing about who

[00:07:34] Jesus was having heard of him as a kid having known people of faith and I just wanted to try something different what

[00:07:39] really what really cracked it open for me was when rusty talked about how Jesus

[00:07:45] stopped in the midst of a really high paced ministry that he was doing and including a high paced activity was

[00:07:50] about to do next and just to listen to this woman’s story I had not I felt like as a teenager that people weren’t doing

[00:07:55] that for me they weren’t stopping and listening to my story and then what really made that real is that rusty did

[00:08:01] that for the rest of my senior years he stopped and he listened to my story and he sat through all the difficult stuff

[00:08:06] he sat through all the accusations and all the all the profanity and all the other things that you know spewing his

[00:08:12] way that to try to push him away and you just stuck around and heard my story and after a while he took me to a young life

[00:08:17] camp that summer and I got to hear the gospel presented without the distractions of home and all that stuff with someone that I trusted an adult

[00:08:23] that cared about me and it just kind of became clear and I decided from that point forward I was gonna start walking with the Lord and so when I was 18

[00:08:29] that’s kind of when I started to live out that faith life and started going a young life college and me and a part of

[00:08:34] that environment and later leading and that’s kind of everything since that yeah yeah what a powerful testimony to

[00:08:39] and I and that’s kind of a theme of young life I I mean is is all about personal relationships is that hey we’re

[00:08:46] not I love what you were saying about how he took the time to stop and connect with you

[00:08:52] that all the busyness of life didn’t take away from his goal to really spend some time with you and sit down and and

[00:08:58] get off the freeway and do it and that’s a challenge for all of us too because there’s so much going on in life and yet

[00:09:05] that’s what you guys are doing and that’s what makes the difference so that’s super exciting well we’re coming up on a break already that’s our first

[00:09:11] ten minutes here we’ve got four more segments left with Christy and Tobias so I hope you’ll stay and and listen to the

[00:09:17] their testimony as well as the ministry of young life and what they’re doing I think it’s fantastic young life gorg is

[00:09:23] their website if you’re looking for the East County young life their websites more specific its East County young life

[00:09:30] org and there’s some really cool things they’re doing also with disabled kids which you don’t hear about this a lot

[00:09:35] but young wife’s ministry is specifically reaching out to kids who have disabilities which i think is a

[00:09:41] really really cool thing because sometimes those kids get kind of left in the dust and so that’s a really really

[00:09:46] cool opportunity for you to hear about so stay with us and if you want to call in please call in the number is up there

[00:09:52] on our Facebook page it’s eight six six five seven seven two four seven three

[00:09:58] there we go okay we’ll be right back hi this is Jason hall president of team

[00:10:05] home loans a branch of synergy one lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Conover for

[00:10:11] the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our

[00:10:16] kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our feet it’s

[00:10:22] our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show is our sincere hope and prayer that he will continue to learn to

[00:10:28] be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings Thank You Kevin from the hall family and

[00:10:35] team home loans educate for life helps you build your life on the rock LG equipment helps builders build on good

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[00:12:13] thanks for listening today this is educate for life I’m your host Kevin Conover my website is educate for life

[00:12:19] Oh our gee I’d love for you to stop by and visit I love your fees your feedback if you enjoy a show please subscribe to

[00:12:26] us on YouTube we also have it on podcast and there’s all kinds of shows that I

[00:12:32] have up there with amazing people that’s one of the things I love about being able to be a radio show host is I get to

[00:12:38] meet all these super cool people that God is using all over the world I recently interviewed John Erwin he’s the

[00:12:43] director of I can only imagine the movie that just recently came out I can only imagine as the most played song in

[00:12:50] modern history Christian song and John Irwin made a movie about it abusive

[00:12:56] father and how his abusive father was redeemed and met Christ and saved also

[00:13:03] interviewed recently Doug axe who wrote the book undeniable and that particular book is about how it’s undeniable

[00:13:10] through the look at genetics that God exists and DNA also just recently

[00:13:15] interviewed Rebecca Kiessling who is a pro-life speaker who was conceived through rape and she shares

[00:13:20] her testimony about how she came to Christ after finding out when she found

[00:13:25] out as she got older as a teenager that her mother was raped and that’s how she became born and today she travels the

[00:13:31] world speaking arguing for the pro-life position so my guests today are let’s

[00:13:39] see here top tobias hagglund and christy fox they’re with young life young life org and we just heard from Tobias and

[00:13:45] his testimony so Christi you’re up and Christy if you haven’t noticed already watching online here she’s smiling all

[00:13:52] the time and she told me that she was just with 40 junior highers so what were you doing hanging out with 40 junior

[00:13:58] highers at a lunch Club at Coronado middle school where kids come in a room during the middle of their lunch hour have

[00:14:03] pizza and hear a little bit from somebody who cares about them about who God is that’s awesome and I have a question for you sir okay when somebody

[00:14:10] decides to get involved with young life do they get to pick who they hang out with or is it kind of like here’s where

[00:14:15] we need you and you’re gonna go hang out with these kids a little bit of both okay depending on the need and then also if

[00:14:21] somebody’s wired a certain way with yeah yeah cuz I’m like I I don’t think I could hand out handle junior highers

[00:14:29] they’re too wild man they’re so squirrely we do our junior high program we call wildlife yeah I teach at a

[00:14:37] Christian high school you know and and there’s the junior high teachers the middle school teachers and then there’s the high school teachers and you know

[00:14:44] there are two different breeds so so tell us about how you got involved I

[00:14:50] mean you’ve been involved for a how many years now 24 24 years that’s incredible that’s awesome so tell us how you you

[00:14:57] you know your upbringing kind of like kind of like why don’t keep surprised

[00:15:05] that’s horrible Tobias so Tobias unlike Tobias I was not

[00:15:10] involved with young life in high school I actually invite I was invited every single week so there was a young life leader who came on campus and invited a

[00:15:17] group of my friends and I to young life every single week in every single week I said no so all of my friends went I was

[00:15:24] a kid who grew up in the church who didn’t understand the purpose of young life so young life I mean really the

[00:15:30] mission is to invite disinterested kids into a relationship with Jesus and at least explore who he is and so I didn’t

[00:15:36] really understand that I didn’t understand why all my friends that you know weren’t interested in God at all would go to young life and so I I was a

[00:15:44] total of hypocritical Christian who was living the same life they were but felt like I was a little bit more

[00:15:50] knowledgeable and so I found a disconnect I didn’t understand young life until I was in college and it

[00:15:57] wasn’t until college that I understood my faith in my life actually had to be congruent hmm and that faith should make

[00:16:04] an impact on how your everyday life was lived and so when I realized that I thought aha I need to hang out with high

[00:16:10] school kids and tell them this cuz I really didn’t get it oh cool found myself at a church ministry and found

[00:16:16] myself really hanging outside in the parking lot with the kids that were coming from young life that were trying to connect to a church that were in the

[00:16:22] parking lot smoking and I thought ooh these are the kids I want to be with and so that that was my introduction again

[00:16:28] life was hanging out with kids in the parking lot who said I don’t know if I can go inside I got through young life but I’ve never

[00:16:35] been to church and I thought ooh this is the space I want to be in isn’t that interesting I that’s so interesting because um I’ve run into that a lot too

[00:16:42] you’ll have kids that I’ll go to something like young life or they’ll go and hang out with something but they’re afraid to step through the doors of the

[00:16:48] church and young life is kind of filling that gap is that is that kind of what the purpose that’s our hope yeah our

[00:16:53] hope is to introduce ourselves as not necessarily a parachurch ministry but we want to be alongside of the church so we

[00:16:59] see ourselves as an arm of the church where we want to go and grab kids that may not be interested because they’re

[00:17:04] just scared or have had exposure in a variety voice that hasn’t set well with them and then try to figure out how do

[00:17:09] we connect them back to a local body that can be theirs forever absolutely yeah now so it’s not often that you run

[00:17:16] into somebody that’s been involved with the same ministry for so long so obviously you’re you’re completely sold

[00:17:22] out on young life so what is it that makes young life different than say other ministries all the ministries I

[00:17:28] think that I’ve you know had the opportunity to talk to the leadership and so they all have a different part

[00:17:33] where the body of Christ right we’re all do playing a role is there a niche kind of that young life’s going after is

[00:17:39] there a different way of approaching a different angle they’re coming up things yeah for me why young life is such a

[00:17:44] neat fit is because it’s adventure it’s fun it’s faith and it’s friendships all rolled into one

[00:17:50] and so that’s just how I’m wired I think that’s exciting for me yeah and energizing for me and like I said before

[00:17:56] I find there is this sweet spot in my heart for high school and middle school

[00:18:01] and young college students that are trying to figure it out and don’t have it dialed in so for me that’s I love

[00:18:07] being with people asking questions that seem ridiculous to others but to me I just go oh I get why you’re asking that

[00:18:13] yeah it’s a lot more fun for me to engage in conversations where people are discovering their faith then maybe for

[00:18:19] some that really love the you know deep theological neuroses with adults of

[00:18:25] getting into debating like debating freewill and Arminianism versus you know

[00:18:30] Calvinism and these sorts of things right yeah so I totally hear what you’re saying I think I feel a lot the same way

[00:18:37] is that it’s nice to be able to talk to people who are kind of really green or out there sometimes I go down to the

[00:18:43] beach and go witnessing and you run into people that are you know really kind of far away from

[00:18:49] Christianity and they’re asking a lot of basic questions and it’s fun to dialogue with them and have the opportunity to

[00:18:54] minister to them so that’s super cool so tell us a little bit also about the

[00:18:59] different aspects of young life so I know there are a whole bunch of different segments to the ministry and

[00:19:04] specifically I’m really interested in hearing a lot more about what you’re doing with disability ministry

[00:19:10] conference calm you said that there’s this conference coming up can you tell us a little bit about that Tobias yeah so Young Life has under kind of the

[00:19:17] larger umbrella of young life and ministry to people with special needs we call it Capernaum or Capernaum depending on you pronounce it it comes

[00:19:24] from the story in the Bible Jesus did a lot of his ministry kind of home basing out of the city of Capernaum but there’s a story where four friends being bring

[00:19:30] their lame friend on a map to a house where Jesus is preaching break a hole open in the top and drop him down because otherwise he wouldn’t able to

[00:19:36] get in himself and so that’s where the namesake of that element of young life comes from is we care deeply about kids

[00:19:41] with special needs too and we know that they need to hear the gospel and be able to relate to it in a way that works for them and so Capernaum is an effort for

[00:19:47] us to make the young life environment accessible to them so we partner with a conference called the disability

[00:19:53] ministry conference and we’ve done it for six years in Southern California it’s gonna be in Santa Ana this year on

[00:19:58] Saturday April 28th you can get all the information on disability ministry conference comm but essentially it’s just dozens of churches parachurch

[00:20:06] nonprofits individual families individual laypeople just getting together and sharing resources and learning from professionals from around

[00:20:14] Southern California basically we have a lot of people doing really great ministry in Southern California but not

[00:20:19] too many places where they’ll get together so this is just part of the effort that we’re partnering with these other churches in order to try to do something where we can get together and

[00:20:26] make what we do even better that’s great and are you looking at specific disabilities are you looking at when you

[00:20:33] go to this conference is this conference mostly for leadership or is this mostly for young people who are dealing with a

[00:20:39] disability this conference really is for anybody we have tracts designed specifically though for people who are

[00:20:45] serving that community so we really want to up the ante we really want to up the quality of ministry that’s being done or

[00:20:50] with is what we’d like to say ministry with people with special needs and but we have tracks on this kind of suggested

[00:20:55] ways to go about it so we have a whole tract that’s suggested for people who work with youth and we’ll have trainings that are

[00:21:01] specially made for people who in that kind of lifestyle we have a track for people like executive pastors who are

[00:21:07] trying to figure out I started this church or I’m managing this church and I don’t know how to change adjust or

[00:21:12] include you know because our church wasn’t designed at the outset to do this and so we have really amazing people who

[00:21:19] have done that to be able to teach them and show them what their options are there’s another track for parents who

[00:21:25] may be trying to figure out how do I advocate in a healthy way at my church how do I talk to an executive pastor and tell them about this or maybe they’re

[00:21:31] just they just had a kid for the first time with needs and they don’t know where to go from here yeah when it comes to their faith life because it’s enough

[00:21:37] to try to figure out how are we gonna get them into schools how are we gonna you know ot PT all that stuff yep

[00:21:42] having a conversation with a church you want it to go smoothly and the parents just need to learn how to advocate so

[00:21:48] there’s that and then we just have an intro track for people that to say hey I kind of have a tug or a pole and I don’t

[00:21:53] know what to do with it we say come great we’re gonna talk about disability theology we’re gonna talk about the world of disability we’re gonna talk about disability 101 what are all these

[00:21:59] different things and when people talk about what do they mean by that yeah and then our fifth one is just a special interest and so every year we kind of

[00:22:05] change up those courses and so we’ve got a great guy Jeff McNair who’s at lives and redlands teaches at CBU and he’s

[00:22:11] just got some really really phenomenal stuff on just new disability Church styles some some work and faith

[00:22:18] development stuff kind of in and yeah in lieu together all right you know what’s good coming up on a break here but I

[00:22:23] think that’s so fantastic because I mean the Christ’s heart if you look at in the

[00:22:28] scriptures in in the Gospels he’s reaching out to the lepers he’s reaching out to the woman who had that that she

[00:22:34] was bleeding for so many years and he’s constantly reaching out to the blind and those who are less fortunate and really

[00:22:40] that’s our testimony to the world right is that we’re not here for its he says I

[00:22:47] came to save the the lost right not the found not everybody’s got it all pulled together he’s come for that so that’s

[00:22:52] really exciting if you’re listening and you have if you are disabled or you have a son or daughter who has a disability

[00:22:59] that’s disability ministry conference calm and we’ll talk a little bit more about that throughout the show so stay

[00:23:06] with us we’re going to be right back before I bring my knee I will bring my

[00:23:12] Luke Gibson of LG equipment supports educate for life with Kevin Conover Luke

[00:23:18] grew up in the construction industry and now serves LG’s commercial and residential customers throughout

[00:23:23] Southern California whether you need grading paving hauling demolition on-site bulk water service

[00:23:28] water trucks tankers and towers call LG equipment at six one nine nine nine

[00:23:33] eight zero nine two four learn more at LG equipment comm six one nine nine nine

[00:23:40] eight zero nine two four when you need tires are serviced count on conover

[00:23:45] tires wheels and service in oceanside for a full range of affordable options at all the brands you trust see their

[00:23:51] great customer reviews that special offers online hours Tuesday through Friday 7:30 to 5:30 and Saturdays 7:30

[00:23:58] to 5:00 called Dan and his team at seven six zero four three nine sixteen thirty one Conover tires wheels and service

[00:24:05] 24:05 oceanside boulevard in oceanside seven six zero four thirty nine 16:31 hi this is jason hall president of

[00:24:14] team home loans a branch of synergy one lending i just want to take this opportunity to think kevin Conover for

[00:24:20] the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our

[00:24:25] kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our faith it’s

[00:24:31] our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn

[00:24:37] to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you

[00:24:43] Kevin from the hall family and team home loans with confident in a biblical and

[00:24:54] effective ways we would like to teach you through the proclamation of the gospel whether you’re just

[00:25:05] how do you think you can get to go

[00:25:11] throughout all ages calm like us on Facebook or visit us at YouTube at throughout all ages okay for life I’m

[00:25:21] your host Kevin Conover again my website is educate for life toe our G you can watch previous shows on our YouTube

[00:25:29] channel educate for life video we’re also podcasting the show and so please check

[00:25:34] those out love to have you subscribe to the channel that’d be a huge blessing if you’d like to connect with us on a

[00:25:39] regular basis you can also sign up for our email list just go to my website just click on our regular newsletter

[00:25:45] you’ll be informed about upcoming shows past shows special events and also classes that I teach I’ve got a ton of

[00:25:51] classes up there on all kinds of subjects like how do we know that God exists how do we know that the Bible’s

[00:25:56] real history not just fictional how do we know that the right books are in the Bible some of the issues that are hard

[00:26:02] for kids to answer right now are why does the Bible talk about slavery in the Old Testament for example and how do I

[00:26:09] deal with the issue of homosexuality or the whole gender question that’s coming up a lot in our culture today how do I

[00:26:15] respond in a biblically loving way to these tough issues and my guests today

[00:26:21] are Tobias and Christie they’re both with young life if you want to check out here locally in San Diego it’s East

[00:26:28] County young life org and you can also check out young life org the vision for

[00:26:33] young life began all the way back in the 1930s this is a very it’s a ministry

[00:26:39] that’s been around for a long time began with a woman Clara Frasure if I’m saying her name correctly she got together a

[00:26:45] bunch of friends and her goal was to pray for the teenagers that were attending the local high school that was

[00:26:51] specifically in Texas the high school was Gainesville High School and that’s carrying on here we are today 2018 and

[00:26:59] this ministry is still going on so fantastic can you guys share with us a

[00:27:06] little bit about what it looks like your everyday ministry experience looks like so people can kind of see

[00:27:12] behind-the-scenes what is it you do and kind of what they can pray for you for

[00:27:17] and if there is somebody out there who’s listening who says you know what what you’re sharing resonates with me I feel

[00:27:24] a little tug on my own heart to get involved in something so that maybe they can know a little bit about what they would be getting themselves involved

[00:27:29] with if they decided to join up yeah Christi you want to sir lots of different ways to get involved but an

[00:27:34] everyday life of so we rally around we may have staff that are scattered throughout our kind of region doing the

[00:27:41] in life that are paid but a vast majority of the people that are working alongside of kids are volunteers so we

[00:27:46] have almost a thousand volunteers within the San Diego Orange County Riverside area that are working alongside of our

[00:27:52] 75 staff or so and and so that’s where the fun happens is because you can

[00:27:57] leverage people to use their innate gifts and desires to reach kids with the gospel and so what that looks like

[00:28:04] really is just walking alongside of kids relationally and in lieu of inviting them to something that we’re putting on

[00:28:10] we try to enter into their world and show we care about who you are regardless of what you think about faith

[00:28:15] and want to invite you to explore this faith thing alongside of somebody like Tobias said his young life leader that

[00:28:20] he knew cared about him and so he was willing to listen to what they have to say so we always one of our young life

[00:28:27] raised aunt got a tagline cz’s earning the right to be heard and so we believe that in order for students to hear what

[00:28:34] you have to say and to care about what you’re saying they’ve got to know the heart from which it’s coming and so we

[00:28:39] spend a lot of time hanging out at basketball games and football games and showing up at chaperones at high schools

[00:28:45] and middle schools figuring out how we can serve and so our goal is to serve the school and to be a presence among

[00:28:51] kids and they’re in their own worlds that’s great now what would you say to somebody who who says oh I feel I feel

[00:28:57] like I want to get involved but I’m nervous I’m not I’m afraid of high school students you know I know a lot of

[00:29:02] teachers or substitute teachers that they come into a classroom and they’re a little bit nervous too you know and and

[00:29:08] so there’s a lot of uh you know I know in my own students

[00:29:13] they’re constantly you know talking about people and they critique

[00:29:18] everything right I walk in if I don’t have a shirt that perfectly matches my pants they let me

[00:29:24] know you know or they’ll criticize you about you know whatever it might be you know so how do you what do you share

[00:29:31] with people about that one of the things I’ve heard Tobias say before as we do training with students with disabilities and I would say this goes for being with

[00:29:38] any students because everybody is uncomfortable is be learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable okay and

[00:29:44] that goes a long way right like what would that look like in life to just learn to be uncomfortable and as scary as it is for us it’s really intimidating

[00:29:51] other high schoolers class on that right learn how to be comfortable being

[00:29:56] uncomfortable did you know he entered into places that most people would feel

[00:30:02] were very uncomfortable and so for some that is a push that we would say hey try this out like you’d actually be really

[00:30:08] great at this and there are other spaces though for adults who feel like being with students may not be my thing but

[00:30:15] we’ve got plenty of places where they could serve behind the scenes we have committees of adults who rally around

[00:30:20] the staff and the volunteers in that area and they support them equip them help with funding I mean the whole thing

[00:30:27] they pray like those women dude who started young life and so there are a lot of spaces for people to jump in

[00:30:32] whether that’s right alongside of kids or as donors or as behind-the-scenes laborers or prayer warriors so there’s a

[00:30:40] lot of different places where one of our best in fact one of my best young life volunteers ever was a grandma and

[00:30:46] everybody else would say oh I can’t I’m too old and she was scared to death but

[00:30:51] was was one of the best most enduring volunteers that we’ve ever had and a lot

[00:30:57] of a lot of the kids I think they’re missing extended family you know a lot of the kids that I talk to they don’t

[00:31:02] have those grandmas or grandpas in their life and so for somebody to come in and just be available for prayer or just to

[00:31:10] be present means a lot to them so that’s really cool power of presence is huge yeah you know it’s so funny because I

[00:31:18] learned that a while back too is that sometimes I had a I had a kid who was

[00:31:25] going through cancer and I was kind of like Lord how do I deal with this what

[00:31:31] am I supposed to say you know this is a very difficult situation and I felt like the Lord was telling me

[00:31:36] Kevon the most important thing you can do is you need to be present for him you

[00:31:42] need to be there for him you need to be somebody he can spiritually hang on to and that really was amazing to me and I

[00:31:50] think in my friendships too sometimes it’s just it’s not that you give the best advice it’s just that somebody

[00:31:56] knows hey they’re there they’re texting me they’re praying for me so that’s really encouraging so if you’re out

[00:32:02] there and you’re listening right now and again if this is if you’re connecting with what we’re talking about what

[00:32:07] Christy and Tobias are talking about with young life please don’t hesitate to get involved because you’re gonna make a difference it’s and and again it’s not

[00:32:15] about saving the whole world it’s about that one kid right there right in front of you to make a difference but what

[00:32:20] about you tobias tell us your daily routine or your weekly routine what what does it look like yeah my daily routine

[00:32:26] is an area director is I don’t scare people away too much with all that but I’ll give you the volunteer side of my

[00:32:32] daily routine and it’s a lot like what Christy said and what you’ve said it’s a lot of it’s just about presence and I’d say also just stability and consistency

[00:32:38] and I think kids are turning to a lot of things in the world to find life and ultimately what they turn to long-term

[00:32:44] is what will continue to receive them and so when you have loving caring adults in the lives of teenagers that will continue to receive them not just

[00:32:50] the four years they’re in high school but will continue to walk through them like my young life leader has I just saw him a couple weeks ago I wouldn’t spoke

[00:32:56] at the banquet in Riverside and with rusty with rusty that was that’s a lifelong relationship yeah 13 years ago

[00:33:02] we still know he’s one of my donors and supporters and he’s the biggest cheerleader of mine and gave him one of my old hats from my young life area and

[00:33:08] he’s so grateful that the little bit of time he only spent probably seven months of actual meaningful relationship with

[00:33:14] me and I would recommend most of our volunteers like you probably are gonna get a lot done in seven months but you also never know and I was a

[00:33:20] senior in high school most people decide we’re and start with freshmen but he’s just following the Lord’s leading and I really believe that if people are meant

[00:33:26] to disciple teenagers like the Lord will break your heart and it’ll be really hard for you to say no and I think I’m just I think we’re just really here to

[00:33:32] say hey you’re not gonna do this alone what I love about the ministry of young life is it’s 100 countries I mean we

[00:33:39] have all kinds of different people doing ministry in the ministry we do is so diverse as well just in East County we

[00:33:44] have outreach to several high schools with very different demographics our leaders look different I’ll go to different churches we have a

[00:33:50] ministry to college-age students at private Christian schools and at the Community College and we also

[00:33:56] administrated teen moms which does not look like what you do with high schoolers so I’ve got you know empty

[00:34:02] nester moms that help watch Babies R Us so we can give teen moms an opportunity to experience a situation like young

[00:34:08] life that’s called young lives so that’s the ministry we have out in East County and tell us a little bit more about that so how did that get going has that been

[00:34:14] around for a while or is that I would love to I don’t know the exact founding date Kristy do you know long enough it’s

[00:34:20] been in East County for longer than I have been my wife and I’ve been there for five years I know that a huge need

[00:34:27] you wouldn’t even realize yeah I was talking to a teacher over at that who teaches over at Grossmont high school

[00:34:32] and he told me that that there is actually a about a hundred and twenty young moms at Grossmont high school that

[00:34:40] are going through a particular program of the district nursery of their own yeah exactly and so what and that’s what

[00:34:46] the Bible says look after widows and orphans exactly and so here you are having that opportunity to reach out do

[00:34:51] you know how many people are involved in that I’m just curious off the top if you don’t listen locally in East County yeah in East County we have about forty

[00:34:57] volunteers across the board between people who are individually dasai high school students all the way to our adult

[00:35:02] support team that helped us fundraise help us plan events and then all the way to those childcare workers that come into the young life clubs and watch

[00:35:09] babies and so there’s really there’s a place anywhere if it’s a matter of just do you care about teenagers do you have

[00:35:14] you have any amount of time yeah we’re one of those ministries that like we we would we would love to be a benefactor

[00:35:19] of your heart you know in any way that you can do it and we’ve got great people that can’t give their time but they can support us financially or they can

[00:35:26] support us in prayer I’ve got great mentors that give time to our adult volunteers and to our kids and it’s just

[00:35:32] about loving kids there’s always a way to do that that’s fantastic so my guests today are Tobias Tobias hagglund and

[00:35:38] Kristy Fox they’re with young life East County young life org is the East County website young life org is if you want to

[00:35:45] if you’re out of state or more broadly if you’re looking at the ministry they have a fantastic opportunity coming up

[00:35:52] it’s a conference it’s called the disability ministry conference and the website is disability ministry

[00:35:57] conference calm please check that out that’s in on April 28th in Santa Fe California and that’s a big need also

[00:36:05] stay with us we have two more segments and if you’d like to call in and ask them a question love to have your phone call our phone number is 866 five seven

[00:36:14] seven two four seven three I have to look at my screen there I have to zoom in on my screen I can’t see the number my eyes and my eyes are going my hair

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[00:36:57] sixty-six hi this is Jason hall president of team home loans a branch of

[00:37:03] synergy one lending I just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Kahn over for the profound impact he’s had on

[00:37:08] mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students his

[00:37:14] knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our faith it’s our honor and privilege

[00:37:19] to support Kevin and his show is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn to be defenders of

[00:37:25] your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you Kevin from the hall

[00:37:31] family and team home loans educate for life helps you build your life on the rock LG equipment helps builders build

[00:37:38] on good soil Luc Gibson’s team at LG equipment is your local source for grading demolition hauling and more

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[00:37:56] learn more at LG equipment comm six one nine nine eight eight zero nine two four

[00:38:05] there’s got to be welcomed to educate for life I’m your host Kevin Conover and

[00:38:11] if you’re watching if you’re streaming of a show you get to see all these behind the scenes stuff here us acting

[00:38:17] goofy and I really appreciate you joining in and watching our program today or listening to our program it’s a

[00:38:24] blessing to have you please feel free to check out my web site educate for life org I want to reiterate on May 15th I

[00:38:31] know it’s still a ways away but May 15th it’s a Tuesday evening we’re having a big conference it’s going to be out in

[00:38:37] East County and it’s EFL Danny Raycom is the website where you can register use

[00:38:44] the code register early and you get a free ticket you can get as many free tickets as you want we just really want

[00:38:49] to pack it out our goal is to connect you with ministries like Young Life and other ministries and to give to educate

[00:38:57] people about their freedom to share the faith in the public schools so a lot of people are afraid they don’t know what’s

[00:39:03] legal or not can I read my Bible in school can I talk about Christmas in school is it okay to talk about the

[00:39:08] resurrection and teachers especially are afraid they think hey as soon as I cross the threshold of the public school

[00:39:15] campus all of a sudden I’ve got to be complete I’ve got a band in my faith I’ve got to keep it keep my mouth closed

[00:39:20] about Christianity but in fact that’s actually not true in fact if you if I had Eric Bureau on

[00:39:25] the radio he would tell you and I know you’re not gonna believe me when I say this but he would tell you that the California Education Code out of all 50

[00:39:34] states is the most friendly code to Christianity if you can believe that when he told me that I was like no

[00:39:39] you’re lying you’re lying but no it’s true it’s true he doesn’t lie he’s a Christian and he’s gonna be telling us

[00:39:45] all about the incredible opportunities we have to share our faith legally not

[00:39:51] by causing trouble but legally in the schools and we want to do that why do we want to do that because Jesus Christ is the hope of the world right without

[00:39:57] Jesus Christ what hope do we have we have no hope for eternal life without Jesus Christ so please come out it’s May

[00:40:03] 15th love to have you join us my guests today are Tobias hagglund and Christie

[00:40:08] Fox they are both involved with young life and they’re sharing the gospel with all these kids that need the Lord really

[00:40:15] cool I want to emphasize again they have a conference coming up and on April 28th it’s the disability

[00:40:20] ministry conference calm is the website and you can check it out and learn how to be more of a light to those families

[00:40:29] that are struggling with kids with disabilities and I personally this is it’s personal to me my middle daughter I

[00:40:35] have three little kids my middle daughter has cystic fibrosis so every

[00:40:40] day when we take our kid our little kids to the child care and the Sunday School

[00:40:47] she has to take a bottle of enzymes and every morning she has to do a vest that’s vibrating and she has more

[00:40:53] sensitive to getting sick and all these sorts of things and we visit with a group of parents that all have a kids

[00:40:59] with cystic fibrosis and and and so I I hear it’s it’s significant it’s probably

[00:41:07] not something I would have thought about too much before but I think what I’ve noticed is that a lot of those parents

[00:41:13] they do struggle to know how do I communicate with the youth leaders the

[00:41:18] needs that I have without feeling like a nag or somebody who’s causing trouble

[00:41:24] you know what I mean yeah and so I think that’s so great that you guys are doing that and you shared with us there’s a

[00:41:31] bunch of different tracks and opportunities for people to do that right yeah a bunch of different tracks and a bunch of different sources as well

[00:41:36] young life is not the epitome of knowledge on disability ministry so we partner because we have we have our own

[00:41:43] niche of outreach and discipleship that week we bring something to the table but it’s it’s an amazing mix of people that

[00:41:49] can speak into people coming in for the first yeah we’re speaking to people from youth their parents or executive pastors

[00:41:55] or people who are just starting or even people just have an interest in hearing more there’s there’s something really for everybody well I wanted to ask you

[00:42:02] Christi you’ve been doing this for 24 years now can you share with us anything off the top of your head that comes to

[00:42:08] mind any memories that really stand out about this was amazing I saw God really

[00:42:15] show up here or or the impact that young life has had on some kids maybe

[00:42:21] personally that really kind of stuck with you oh so many i sat at a table with ten

[00:42:27] junior highers just last night talking about the easter story many of whom it was new for

[00:42:32] they just they didn’t know how it all unfolded but I’ll go back to my first

[00:42:37] time that I ever took high schoolers to camp young life camp is different than any of the camps I had ever been to it

[00:42:44] was just you start from Ground Zero if kids show up and don’t know anything about the gospel our hope is that by the

[00:42:50] end of the week they would understand a full picture of who Jesus is and so I remember sitting with a girl named Katie

[00:42:56] who had never heard it before was a self-declared atheist going into our week and said I’m planning the party

[00:43:02] when I get home so that I can make sure I just forget everything I learned I mean literally on the bus on our way

[00:43:08] there saying I’m already planning a party when I get home because I I don’t want to come home different you don’t

[00:43:14] get any more raw than that and that’s what I love so I’m on the bus with her thing and okay and I just asked people

[00:43:19] to pray and we got there in the very last day of camp we’re talking about what she had taken away out of the week and she looked at me with these really

[00:43:27] bright blue eyes and I’ll never forget it because she said she said Christy just said I have

[00:43:33] always seen the world in black and white this is the first time I feel like I’ve ever seen this world in color and she

[00:43:39] said God has done something to my eyes and my heart this week I don’t think I’ll ever be the same and I looked at

[00:43:45] her and she goes I’m canceling that party when I get home beautiful like

[00:43:52] just this moment for her it was it was a journey but it was just this journey for her that started with this unveiling

[00:43:58] right like this unveiling of the truth to her in a way that she just couldn’t

[00:44:03] walk away from so it was it was just this image that stuck in my head of this black and white to color and I that’s

[00:44:09] been my prayer ever since when I’ve taken kids to camp is I just pray that they would leave seeing Jesus in color

[00:44:15] and wear life differently yeah that is so phenomenal so what are these camps

[00:44:22] once a year are they every summer or when do they take place we have camps that happen throughout the school year

[00:44:27] and those are local and so we’ll bring you know are down here in San Diego we brought over a thousand kids to weekend

[00:44:34] camps down there of all ages and but during the summer we’ve got cut summer camps that are allocated specifically

[00:44:40] for as high school middle school outreach camps so we have a camp in Northern California and a camp and

[00:44:46] Arizona that are highschool specific and also do full weeks for kids with disabilities that are engaged and

[00:44:51] designed specifically for them as well as Teen Mom camps where these teenage moms get to go and we have childcare

[00:44:57] provided for them and they get to experience a high school week of camp and then a middle school camp also in

[00:45:04] San Diego so when you go in the summer it’s a once it kind of once a summer but then throughout the year we’ve got

[00:45:09] ongoing weekend so this is so that’s really neat how you guys you kind of break it up into the specific needs of

[00:45:15] the kids and that’s that’s different than most camps most camps it’s kind of like hey everybody’s going to the same camp but here you’re actually breaking

[00:45:21] it down to their specific needs yeah we have discipleship camps too so that that way it’s not just physical needs of kids and where they’re at but

[00:45:27] it’s also where you’re spiritually where are you spiritually needing to be right now and is it a discipleship camp or is

[00:45:33] it an outreach camp and let’s find the best spot for you there’s there’s really nothing like seeing you know 200 teenage

[00:45:41] moms at a camp with their babies with childcare workers that pay to get there so that they can walk alongside it’s

[00:45:48] it’s unbelievable and then you watch them at the end of the week standing up making this profession of faith with a

[00:45:53] baby in their arms or – yeah life will never be the same for them or their kids how can you not thinking about that it

[00:46:01] makes me want to cry that’s crazy that’s really really and I don’t know who else does that there may be other people

[00:46:06] there doing that I’ve ever heard of anything like it’s pretty crazy and ridiculous to do and I think young lives

[00:46:11] just wild and crazy enough to try something like that 200 teen moms and

[00:46:17] babies and see what happens that’s awesome so if you’re listening in this and this inspires you encourage you I encourage

[00:46:23] you to get involved please support their ministries stuff like this doesn’t happen for free so young life org if you

[00:46:29] want to support them that would be a huge blessing how is the young life funded how does that work it’s funded by

[00:46:37] people in the community okay so staff go out and do their own personal fundraising but really we believe that we want a community to own

[00:46:43] it we don’t want to just show up and do something that we think is great we want the community to think gosh this is

[00:46:48] needed we want to see this happen and so it’s really all funded from within there’s no magic young life tree that

[00:46:54] rains down my face so hope it’s all funded by a local community that says we want to see this happen and

[00:47:00] people that believe in ministry to high school kids and middle school kids and college students so it’s really

[00:47:05] organically funded in a beautiful way but it also makes it tough because we’re out there our staff are not just out

[00:47:11] there with kids and leaders and doing the hard work in the trenches of just life of kids but they’re also out

[00:47:16] fundraising yep yeah I know what that’s like well we have one segment left and when

[00:47:22] we get back to bias is going to share with us some of his memories some of the experience he’s had and stay with us

[00:47:27] we’re gonna be right back Christi and Tobias hagglund and well

[00:47:32] Christi Fox and Tobias hagglund and we’ll be right back and finish off our show today thanks for being with

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[00:48:31] you like us on facebook or at youtube

[00:48:39] throughout all ages luke gibson of LG equipment supports educate for life with

[00:48:45] kevin Conover Luke grew up in the construction industry and now serves LG’s commercial and residential

[00:48:50] customers throughout Southern California whether you need grading paving hauling demolition on-site bulk water service

[00:48:57] water trucks tankers and towers call LG equipment at six one nine nine nine

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[00:49:08] eight zero nine two four hi this is jason hall president of team

[00:49:13] home loans a branch of synergy one lending i just want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin Kahn over for

[00:49:19] the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as being an incredible teacher while our

[00:49:24] kids were his students his knowledge and passion have taught us all how important it is to be defenders of our faith it’s

[00:49:30] our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show is our sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn

[00:49:36] to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show and through his educate for life teachings thank you

[00:49:42] Kevin from the hall family and team home loans

[00:49:49] for life I’m your host Kevin Conover my web sites educate for life.org and on May 15th we have a huge event

[00:49:56] reaching out to students parents teachers and administrators in the

[00:50:02] public schools those of you who are Christians out there who want to be encouraged and inspired on being a light

[00:50:09] in the public schools Eric Bureau is gonna be with us he’s an expert on the education code in California and he’s gonna be sharing

[00:50:15] with you what’s legal and where that line is that you don’t want to cross as far as you know sharing your faith is

[00:50:21] concerned and what’s legal and what’s not it’ll just be a real blessing to you and an encouragement I hope you can come out efl Danny Raycom is our website and

[00:50:30] would love to have you join us my guests today are Christie Fox and Tobias hagglund they’re with young life and if

[00:50:36] you’ve been listening this ministry is just phenomenal it’s different than a lot of other ministries there’s a lot of ministries that have that that are

[00:50:42] reaching kids in different ways and they have their own niche I love this whole

[00:50:48] ministry to reach young teen moms if the stats that I was looking up on

[00:50:54] that say that the age at which a teenage girl begins to parent her child alone is the number one indicator of poverty so

[00:51:01] teenage pregnancy my wife sister got pregnant as a teenager and she was

[00:51:07] actually considering having an abortion and my wife was able to persuade her not to do that and today that young man he

[00:51:13] just graduated high school not too long ago and he’s in love with the Lord he’s just doing amazing and you look at that

[00:51:21] and you see what what God has done and how he can rescues rescue us from our

[00:51:26] own mistakes and the things that we do that aren’t always the wisest and he can redeem that so it’s so exciting but

[00:51:33] Tobias I wanted to give you a chance to share a little bit how you’ve seen God work in the ministry and yeah for your

[00:51:39] efforts yeah I’ve got two stories I’d love to tell one is kind of a short term and then another one is kind of a long term story that’s all do this return one

[00:51:45] first but this one has impacted me a lot so last year I had this experience with

[00:51:50] this young woman who was a student at when the high schools in East County and she is of a different faith and she was

[00:51:55] coming to one of the lunch clubs I’ve been doing lunch Club at this school for over five years and got a great relationship with the staff there

[00:52:01] and had a great relationship with the teachers that have hosted us but the young life lunch clubs are crazy because

[00:52:07] kids come in there and they’re there they’re throwing stuff and they’re they’re cussing up a storm and they’re pushing each other and it’s just like me

[00:52:14] and sometimes we feel like I had to wear a helmet going in there but I love it it’s amazing and it’s it’s so cool though to see what happens

[00:52:20] though we allow this craziness in this ruthlessness almost to kind of just like

[00:52:25] mean it’s gonna be what its gonna be because towards the end of our lunch club you know one of our volunteers stands up and opens the Bible and it’s

[00:52:32] it’s one of those beautiful things where you see the room get silent cuz it’s been communicated that hey we don’t take

[00:52:37] ourselves seriously but we take the love of Jesus so seriously you know it is something that’s so important for them here and so I love to hear the crazy

[00:52:44] slowly turn into a quiet and then that’s one person just speaking the truth I just thought that gives me that gives me

[00:52:50] chills I love that but there was this one girl that they came and she was of a different faith and she sat in the back

[00:52:55] of the room with her book up in front of her face and and I just kept giving my talk and the next week she came back and

[00:53:03] she was sitting in the middle role with where their book in front of her face and then once she went like this and

[00:53:08] then put the book back and I just noticed her in the week after that then she was sitting in the second row right right behind from the first one and she

[00:53:14] was sitting there and she had her shared her book sitting right right in front of her and it was open you know and then

[00:53:19] the next week is good I wish it was I’m lying I’m dying you know the first and then the first row the next week she was

[00:53:24] there she was sitting in the front row and she didn’t have her book out she just had her hands crossed like this

[00:53:30] staring at me you know yeah and then the next week I came and it was it was such

[00:53:35] a packed room we have a huge amount of kids there and I found her I thought she hadn’t come and I was like she was

[00:53:42] getting closer and closer you said anything to her at this point I know I tried to but I went to we were

[00:53:47] high-fiving she said I’m not allowed to touch guys and I was like oh yeah no problem no you’re welcome here and and

[00:53:54] then I thought she wasn’t there and I remember I was telling the story about the woman caught in adultery and I love

[00:53:59] to bring the story laughs I just dipped down on the ground and started to rub my finger on the carpet and just kind of

[00:54:05] emulating what Jesus did riding in the sand and I brought up my eyes and she was sitting right in front of me with her with her hands you know her

[00:54:11] legs crossed in her elbows on her knees and her palms like this just and I knew it wasn’t at me it’s like she was

[00:54:17] watching Jesus in this moment I think in the same way that the woman caught in adultery probably was and I just loved

[00:54:22] that because there was no way that was gonna happen without the five six weeks

[00:54:28] prior and there’s no way that she was gonna feel that vulnerable and that safe without all the permission to be

[00:54:33] yourself and to not need anything else to happen and that impacted me so much and the other one is it’s a long more of

[00:54:39] a long term but it’s it’s a short explanation to it it’s a these two kids Rudy and Josh we’re graduating this year

[00:54:44] one from Steel Canyon one from Valhalla and I’ve just I’ve known them since they were 7th graders and being able to walk

[00:54:53] with these kids for six years and it had not happened to be a thing just like it’s because of a friendship they’re

[00:54:59] they’re both student leaders in our ministry now too and they’re reaching their friends for Christ and Rudy’s bringing like six guys to camp already

[00:55:05] Wow you know that don’t love the Lord and I’m just like what does what are you

[00:55:10] what are you drinking because it’s not something I gave you it’s just like craziness and I think that is so special

[00:55:16] and we’re not the only ones that do that but we’re definitely one of the ones that do I love that we walk with kids not just for a couple years or for a

[00:55:23] year during a program but like I love these kids they’re part of my life and I’m part of theirs and you know good Rudy’s going off into the military and

[00:55:28] Josh is moving out to Boston and I can’t wait to visit and I can’t wait to just cheer them on from afar and just be part

[00:55:34] of that support structure that sees them contain a grow so I mean the fact that you’ve been involved in the ministry for so long as a testimony in and of itself

[00:55:40] I mean 24 years and nine years that speaks to the longevity of the relationships that you can build by

[00:55:47] being involved for so long and like you said that’s what you know that’s a lot of what kids are looking for they’re

[00:55:52] looking for that stability they’re looking for that consistent presence and so if you’re listening today again I

[00:55:58] just want to emphasize if if what what they’re sharing if what Christie and Tobias are sharing resonates with you

[00:56:04] and you’re feeling hey maybe the Holy Spirit is tugging on my heart there’s so many ways to be involved and make a

[00:56:11] difference here and you know the Bible tells us invest in what’s eternal what

[00:56:16] is not going to wear out or rust out or be destroyed by you know Maw’s and so forth we want to invest in the King

[00:56:22] of God and and this is gold these stories that you’re sharing our gold to see these kids lives change and then

[00:56:28] like you said to see them go out and get on fire and then start inviting their friends it just it just is there’s

[00:56:35] nothing like it you know and so what a blessing I we’re pretty much out of time here so the time flew by that was 15

[00:56:42] minutes but I really want to thank you both for being on the program today it’s been a leskew for Evan I appreciate it

[00:56:47] please keep young life in your prayer if you’re listening we’ll be back next week young life org is the website in East

[00:56:54] County here it’s East County young life org and again just a reminder they have a conference coming up April 28th in

[00:57:01] Santa Ana did submit disability ministry conference calm I hope you’ll check that

[00:57:06] out and take the time to be involved there’s so many exciting things happening you know the Bible says Christ

[00:57:12] said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and that always encourages me because you know these days in the news we hear a lot of doom

[00:57:18] and gloom but Jesus Christ said hey look it there’s a ha there’s a ripe harvest out there all we

[00:57:24] need is more harvesters amen and I I firmly believe that and these testimonies tell us that that’s true so

[00:57:30] that’s fantastic god bless you I hope you have a great day today thanks for joining us if you stream the show today

[00:57:36] online appreciate you being with us wave goodbye folks okay and we’ll be back with you next

[00:57:42] Saturday with another great interview god bless you have a great day did you miss part of today’s program don’t worry

[00:57:48] we’re con mitad to helping you get the info you need okay that was dumb but for

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