MARCH

MARCH 2015 WWW.CIY.COM

BELIEVE S AFTER TOUR CALLS JR. HIGH S ACROSS THE U.S. MORE THAN 20,000 STUDENTS ARE PROJECTED TO ATTEND THIS YEAR S BELIEVE TOUR. ANDY HANSEN THE PRESIDENT CHRIST IN YOUTH CHASING AFTER GOD S HEART I have a theory that Jr. high students are some of the most effective evangelists. They re at an age where they re not inhibited to invite their friends and neighbors to join them at youth group events such as CIY s Believe, and they re very open with their faith in Jesus. This revelation has led me to begin encouraging churches to start setting aside funds that can be utilized as scholarships for students to come to Believe not for students who already attend the church, but for their friends who don t attend. Just think what could happen if 50 students who do not go to church and perhaps have never heard the Gospel message came with their friends from your church to Believe! Recently I had coffee with Brian Jennings, preaching minister at Highland Park Christian Church in Tulsa, OK. I bounced this idea off of him and quickly found out that the leaders of his church were looking for new and fresh ways to create evangelistic opportunities. We committed to paying for the Believe costs for any of our students un-churched friends, Brian said. We cast the vision to our middle school students and called them to be missionaries. We knew that Believe would communicate the Gospel and we also shared a plan for an after event for families. Our youth minister continued to share the vision and our leadership prayed for God to move. In December we had a Christmas offering that helped to pay for scholarships, and our church gave generously. Six un-churched students attended, along with 24 of their friends! The following are comments from some students: I learned that if you are after God s heart, He will lead you to bigger things. Even if you can only do the small things now, they will lead to the big things that affect a lot of people. David sought God s heart until it led him to a giant, and his faith was big enough for God to do a miracle. On the Sunday morning following the church s Believe experience, the youth group hosted a breakfast for families of students who went to Believe. The breakfast included testimonies from students and a discussion about the church s commitment to families. Brian said Believe s weekend and the extra efforts before and after the event helped create a community in which the entire congregation was able to participate. It is thrilling to hear how a church that averages 400 is now energized to reach students in its communities and neighborhoods. Currently there are 930 churches that attend Believe. What if each of those attending churches committed to giving scholarships to 10 students? The result could be 9,300 new students who currently don t go to church who would hear a Biblical message of how God loves them! Can you dream with me a little? Will you join me in prayer for such a movement? Can you actively help to create such a plan of action for evangelism in your church? Can you hear the words of Jesus? Let the little children come unto me! P.O. BOX B Joplin, MO 64802 (800) 765-4CIY ANDY HANSEN CIY President CHRIS ROBERTS Editor AUSTIN EIDSON Graphic Designer CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Erin DeZago 9Art Photography Meegan Dobson Kori Crawford To be added to the CIY mailing list, or to receive the Kingdom Worker Connection newsletter via email, please contact marketing@ciy.com.

THE AFTER TOUR LEADS STUDENTS TO LIVE LIKE JESUS MORE THAN 20,000 JR. HIGH STUDENTS ARE PROJECTED TO ATTEND THIS YEAR S BELIEVE TOUR, WHICH STOPS IN 13 DIFFERENT CITIES AROUND THE COUNTRY THIS SPRING. There are already some great stories of students responding to the message being presented during this year s tour of chasing After God s Kingdom some making first-time decisions for Christ, while others are committing to live as Kingdom workers. People know you follow Jesus by the way you act, said Alex Gooch, an eighth grader who attended Believe in Tulsa, OK, Jan. 30-31. Most people know Christ and some people like Him a lot, but I want to be like Him. Gooch joins thousands of other Jr. high students who are learning how to model their lives after Jesus by emulating the life of David, who it says in the book of Acts was a man AFTER God s own heart. Mike Branton, Believe program director, said this year s theme meets the culture of Jr. high students right JUST FOR JR. HIGH CIY S BELIEVE TOUR HIGHLIGHTS SPEAKERS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY WHO ARE EXPERTS AT CONNECTING SPECIFICALLY WITH JR. HIGH STUDENTS. where they are during an important and formative time in their spiritual growth. Our culture today has glorified doing good, Branton said. In fact, for many students today doing good has become the god they chase after and there s no push-back against that because as far as society is concerned, doing good is a noble pursuit. We want to help raise up a generation of students who follow God and do good. Trenton Meyer, a seventh grader from southwest Missouri, said Believe helped him better understand what it means to live for God on a daily basis. We re learning the basics about David and how he was a man after God s own heart, Meyer said. He would do anything for God and he was dedicated to Him no matter what. I really get that because ever since I was baptized last summer I ve been trying to live my life different. This stuff about David is a good reminder to stay on track don t cuss like everyone else does and don t do the things the world wants you to do. I ve been challenged to take everything I do in life and do it for God because I should be chasing after His Kingdom, said Sarah Farrar, an eighth grader. One of the ways I can do that is through kindness and to tell other people about God. Branton said that the reason the Believe team chose the story of David as the main teaching for this year s Believe tour is because of how his story shows students how being AFTER God is a lifestyle that takes commitment every moment of every day. Students on the tour are being challenged to realize that just like David, they, too, can be prepared for the bigger tasks in God s Kingdom when they are faithfully living for God in the small tasks of everyday life. Reinforcing that message on this year s tour are speakers familiar to the Believe stage, including Jeff Walling, Kurt Johnston, Scott Rubin, Brooklyn Lindsey and Heather Flies. And according to Meyer, the messages from these speakers are challenging in ways that speak right to the heart of a Jr. high student. Heather is awesome, he said. It s not like we re just sitting in front of a preacher and they re preaching and preaching. She is very, very into INCREDIBLE WORSHIP STUDENTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY SAY WORSHIP AT A BELIEVE WEEKEND IS ONE OF THEIR FAVORITE ASPECTS OF THE EVENT. what I m into and that s cool! Students on this year s tour are also thrilled with the touring band, Carrolton. In fact, worship alongside thousands of other students in an arena at one of CIY s venues is one of the highlights of the event for many students. Allary Liberatore, an eighth grader from southwest Missouri, said Believe is the perfect combination of everything that worshipping God should be about. I love it because it is just amazing, she said. That first night I was just sitting there thinking, That s what it s all about!

MINISTERING TO CAMBODIA THE CIY S TRAVELING MEDICAL CLINIC IS ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOMENTS OF THE YEAR FOR MANY WHO LIVE IN CAMBODIA. ENGAGE LEADS MEDICAL MISSION TO CAMBODIA WHEN JORDAN CHAMBERS JOINED CIY S ENGAGE: THE WORLD TEAM ON A TRIP TO CAMBODIA IN JUNE 2014, HE MET A GIRL AT RAPHA HOUSE WHOSE LOVE FOR GOD FILLED HIS HEART TO OVERFLOWING. Rapha House is a ministry that works with young girls who have been sex trafficked throughout the country, and this girl was one who had been severely abused. In fact, she had two glass eyes because her abuser had gouged out her eyes. When I first met her, she was at Rapha House healing and learning and singing her heart out, Chambers said. As soon as I came home from that trip I had my heart set on going back in January (with Engage s medical missions team). I worked full time to pay off the entire trip. It was worth every penny. When I went back to Rapha House in January, some of the missionaries told me that the girl I d met had returned to her family s home a week earlier and that she had learned to cook and that she wouldn t stop singing! It was such happy news for me, and I can t even explain how I felt in that moment. Chambers was one of 15 other students and adult leaders who took the annual medical mission trip to Cambodia in January with CIY s Engage: The World team. CIY has been leading this trip each January since 2009. Most of those traveling are affiliated in some way with the health care industry from pre-med students to resident nurses and even dentists and physicians. According to Brittany Shoemake, CIY program administrator for Engage, Cambodia has a high disease burden with undertrained and understaffed health care workers. CIY s group offers a traveling medical clinic and is one of the most anticipated moments of the year for many of those in the country. In addition to conducting medical clinics, the group helps with outreach at a church, works alongside ministry partner Rapha House, makes visits to multiple other churches and visits children at one of Rapha House s off-shoot ministries. Taking an Engage trip is a huge adventure, Chambers said. It s such a crazy experience to go around the world and taste what Jesus has done and can do. It is mind-blowing to see Christians work outside of their own bubbles to further the Kingdom. Chambers said the experience of his trips through Engage: The World have been so great that he said he wishes he could go on every trip that CIY takes. He currently has plans to serve as an adult sponsor with his church for an Engage: The World trip to Romania this summer, and hopes to be able to cultivate even more interest among students in his church for trips in the future.

THE VISITING THE EMERALD ISLE WHEN KORI CRAWFORD WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL, SHE CAME VERY CLOSE TO COMMITTING SUICIDE. Through the help and support of her family and church, she came to realize the value she has in Christ. While working through the healing process, she felt God calling her to work with other young people who might be going through similar bouts of depression possibly even in locations outside of the U.S. That s when she started looking into international trips through CIY s Engage: The World program. I went online to CIY s website and saw that they have a trip to Northern Ireland, Crawford said. As I began to read about the trip, I saw that the city they visit has a high suicide rate and that the ministry they work with has a suicide awareness program. If I can ever do anything in that field, I m interested. I don t want anyone to ever feel the way I felt when I was a freshman. If I can help anyone through that, I want to. Crawford fulfilled that commitment by joining 13 other college students from all over the country on an Engage trip to Dundrum, Northern Ireland in January. The majority of the experience included working alongside a ministry called Revival In Our Town (RIOT), which reaches out to community kids through after-school programming at a youth center for students in middle school and high school. He s done it was hard not to praise Him and pay attention to how beautiful everything is. In addition to working with RIOT, the students on the trip were able to walk through parts of the city and learn about the religious and gender divides that affect the culture. They went to see many cultural and historic sites throughout the area and learned a lot about the history of the church in Northern Ireland. The group also had the opportunity to walk through Tollymore Forest the same forest that C.S. Lewis used to visit in the summer and which served as inspiration for his Chronicles of Narnia books. This place was incredible, said Cooper Smith, another student who went on the trip. We had an hour to just walk around and pray and find rest in the beauty that God created. It was easily one of the most incredible hours of my life. Also included on the trip was a chance to work at a youth center in Belfast, time spent praying at the prayer walls that divide the city between Protestants and Catholics, and a visit to a castle. This is the first time CIY has led a trip to Northern Ireland in January. FOREST OF NARNIA WHILE IN NORTHERN IRELAND, STUDENTS GOT TO VISIT TOLLYMORE FOREST, WHERE C.S. LEWIS WAS INSPIRED TO CREATE THE WORLD OF NARNIA. Our work with RIOT was probably the favorite part of the trip for me, Crawford said. The kids were great and had so much energy. One of the things I felt God teaching me through that experience is that I need to take focus off of myself and put it more on Him. I had become a little self-centered and had not been focusing on Him enough. Being in that environment and seeing everything that

THE PRETEENS LEARN TO GIVE GRACE BACK! IT S A CHALLENGE THAT MORE THAN 14,000 PRETEEN STUDENTS ARE BEING PRESENTED WITH DURING THIS YEAR S SUPERSTART! TOUR, WHICH IS TRAVELING TO 12 CITIES AROUND THE COUNTRY. SOMETHING AMAZING SUPERSTART PARTNERS WITH REAL ENCOUNTERS BIKE STUNT TEAM FOR THE SOMETHING AMAZING TOUR GIVE GRACE BACK The theme for the tour is Something Amazing. Throughout each weekend, students are given a Biblical definition of Grace An undeserved gift that costs the giver and shows God s love. At the end of the weekend, students are shown how God s gift of Jesus is the ultimate act of grace. They are then challenged to respond to that call on their lives to be Kingdom workers by choosing someone in their lives to whom they can Give Grace Back. Here are a few testimonies of how preteens around the country are answering that challenge: A bunch of girls from my church have made this clique. They used to be my friends but now they don t include me. I m giving grace to them by just smiling at them and not being rude. Olivia, Winter Garden, FL A friend of mine needed a Yancy CD because she lost hers. I had one, but Yancy had autographed it herself! I decided to give my CD to my friend. It was really hard to give up. Lindsay, Grapevine, TX I went to Hope Center a place that serves needy people. I carried food to their cars. It made me feel good to help others in Jesus name. Noah, Albion, IL I cleaned the kitchen without being asked or told by my parents. I brought my sister food and water without arguing or making her get up. I helped set up the church for service in the morning. Cooper, St. Louis, MO These are just a handful of the young lives that are being changed after accepting the call of Christ on their lives to be Kingdom workers while at a SuperStart! event. Continue to pray that the work of SuperStart! and CIY will amplify that call to many more students all over the world.