Lent: Yesterday was Ash Wednesday
The first day of the Lenten season was Ash Wednesday, a time of repentance, reflection, and fasting in preparation for Easter.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8-10)
We are a broken people in a broken world that loves spreading sin and hate. From the encouragement of materialism that assures you if you just have some more nice things you’ll surely be happier, to subtle racism that allows white people to believe that a teenage boy deserved to die because he wore a dark hoodie and even stole a pack of gum one time, and that real racism is black people asking to be considered human lives that matter and to not be shot because of the color of their skin. We all know that we can hardly turn around without being reminded of our fallen state, and that we should always be working towards becoming more Christlike.
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-7)
As we fast during this season and throughout our walk with Christ, let in not be for appearance sake or because people expect it of us, but because we are seeking God. Let us seek His correction and His heart for His people, but not be unduly discouraged by our shortcomings, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)
Regional Conference Call tomorrow, Friday Feb. 12
Just a quick reminder that we have a regional conference call at 9:15am on Friday. The call info is below. We will be done by 10am.
Topic: Regional Conference call
Time: Feb 12, 2016 9:15 AM (GMT-7:00) Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Or join by phone:
Meeting ID: 148 849 1149
Good news for all: Take Action by Feb. 19th
The Young Life Benefits Plan ended the 2014-15 fiscal year with a surplus, a portion of which Mission leadership has determined should be returned to the field by issuing a benefits premium refund and/or by setting aside funds for benevolence assistance. The fact of a surplus is pretty remarkable, especially considering premiums have remained flat over the last five years while most organizations have experienced skyrocketing premium increases. We are blessed to have such a well-managed, generous benefits program.
Action for some:
- If you are responsible for a mission unit that is less than 1.0 cash month ahead at the end of January 2016, your area will automatically receive a refund of your January premium.
- If you are responsible for a mission unit that is in surplus 1.0 cash month or more at the end of January 2016, you have a choice to make: you do nothing and allow 50% of your premium refund to be used for staff benevolence assistance or you can keep 100% or give 100%.
How Much Money will I get back?
Direct staff to look at their cash flow and then find the “GROUP BENEFITS 5230” line to see how much has been paid each month for benefits. The amount that will be refunded is the amount that is paid for benefits in January. But most folks can look at how much has come out the past three months to see what that monthly amount will be in January.
Instructions on how to elect a different option, along with more information about the program, Young Life Benefit Plan Premium Holiday 2016 final. The deadline is end of day Friday February 19,2016 For questions or assistance, contact your regional office or Holly Pettit, Manager of Field Administration.
Scholarship Opportunities for Camp
We have added the links to the applications for the Leave No Camper Behind Scholarship at Washington Family Ranch and the Multi-Cultural & Urban Scholarship to the camp funding opportunities page on the blog.
Multi-Cultural, Urban, Disadvantaged kids-The number of disadvantaged campers increases every year, which puts an added burden on the Multicultural and Urban Campership Fund. Note that these campership funds are designed specifically for areas that are in financial need. Please do not apply if you are an affluent suburban area with a handful of urban kids attending camp.
Grants will only be given to ministry areas where 55% of the kids involved are kids of color or kids who are from under-resourced, at-risk communities. Please, therefore, only request funds for the actual number of kids who must have financial aid to go to camp, not overall quota (unless, of course, all your campers are in need). This is an issue of integrity; abusers are a threat to our credibility with donors. Please also understand that leaders and transportation are not included in this grant. The grant is to help cover the cost of camp only.
Women’s Weekend 2016, WFR!
Attached is the flyer for the Women’s Weekend at Washington Family Ranch, Canyon.
It’s April 29-May 1. This is an outreach weekend, but seminars and campaigners will be deeper of course. Kristin Coulter iscamp managing and Debi Fox is doing campaigners. Mariah Warner (from Western Washington) is our speaker. It’s gonna be a GREAT weekend.
I wanted to let you know what was happening in the division so you can
take advantage of this weekend! Last year they had about 300+ women there.
Work Crew Application Bug
As many of you are discovering, there is an unfortunate and critical bug in the work crew application. Here is the most current information on this issue:
THE PROBLEM
The work crew application has two buttons for two different purposes – a Save button and a Continue button. In a nutshell, the Save button is not working properly causing kids to lose data that they entered into the application. This is causing significant and understandable frustration for work crew applicants, their leaders, and regions.
The Continue button is working properly – it is saving data entered into the application. From an area and region standpoint, you can have confidence that any application that is in the Awaiting Placement status is complete.
The best advice would be to not use the Save button. Only use the Continue button, and pay attention to any warnings that occur when the Continue button is clicked.
THE PENDING FIX
- The IT department is working diligently on a temporary fix. This is a high priority. There is a chance that the fix will be in place by the end of the day today, but I can’t guarantee that. It could take a day or two.
- The fix will be to remove the Save button. Here’s what that will mean for applicants:
o There are three pages to the work crew application.
o There will be a Continue button at the bottom of the first and second page, and a Submit button at the bottom of the third page.
- When the Continue button is clicked it will verify if all of the required fields on that page have been completed.
- If all of the required fields on that page are complete, the current page will be saved and the next page will be displayed.
- If any required field is not complete, the applicant will get a warning and instructions to complete those fields in order to save the data and proceed to the next page.
- The bottom line is that the applicant will need to complete whatever page they are on in order to save their application. They won’t have to complete the entire application (all three pages) in one shot, but they will have to complete whatever page they are on in order to save it.
- On the last page, when the Submit button is clicked it will verify that all of the required fields on that page have been completed. If not, the applicant will get a warning with instructions. If so, the application will save, submit, and change to Awaiting Placement status.
- As soon as the fix is in place I will let you all know and send detailed instructions that you can pass along to areas. Feel free to also send them this email.
- I will likely also send an email to every leader who has submitted a recommendation and to every applicant who has an incomplete application.
I apologize for the unfortunate timing of this bug. This bug occurred as an unforeseen consequence to another unrelated mission IT project. Thanks for your patience. Again, we hope to have the fix in place today or tomorrow. Camping Department.
“Just Do It” Young Life camp promo
You might have seen this Shia Lebeouf “Just Do It” Young Life camp promo on the @YoungLifeLeader Instagram account. Thanks to the creative genius of Steven Ball, you can now download a “Just Do It” promo for almost every Young Life camp!
Download “Just Do It Promos”
On Your Phone
There’s got to be an easier way to do this, but I can’t figure it out. If you know, email me here and I’ll update the post.
- Click this link to open the “Just Do It” folder on Google Drive.
- Tap the video of your camp.
- Then leave your browswer and open your ‘Google Drive’ app.
- Sort by ‘last opened by me’ and the video should pop up
- Click the 3 vertical dots on the right
- Click “Send a copy”
- Click “Save video”
- It’s now in your Camera Roll and ready to post on Instagram.
On Your Computer
Click the link to your specific camp below. Then click the download button at the top (a downward facing arrow over a line.)
Find out how Steven Ball made this video at www.younglifeleaders.org
