we are the patriarch makers

Mark, Gordon, Eric...who's who?

So... just to clarify, "we are the patriarchs" is not implying that us three YFC staff have some notoriety like the patriarchs of old: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No, it is implying that "we" as a society have been called to be patriarchs, in all spheres of life. This simply means that we build into others who have come under us in some form, be it age, occupation, faith-seeking, or many other life circumstances. It is the passing of the torch, as a father passes on what he knows to his son. This principle works on the matriarchal level as well, I believe, but haven't tried it out.

Now there is a problem. OF COURSE there is a problem. We have a fatherless generation amongst us, or even multiple generations. I won't go into too much detail about this, as I'm guessing most everyone knows of what I speak. "The Joshua Problem," I have so called our predicament, in reference to the situation the Israelites faced in the Old Testament era. Simply put, God rose Moses up as a leader who then passed on what he knew to Joshua, who led the people Israel after Moses' death. Joshua ruled as Israel's judge, with no record of apprenticing, or of a healthy patriarchal society, and so Joshua died and his integrity with him. Nothing was passed on, and Israel entered its darkest era ever.

All this to say, we at YFC are feeling the call to solve the Joshua Problem, to take the time to invest in others and pass down what God has already done in our young lives. We also feel we need to make sure that we ourselves spend enough time with Moses's and Joshua's in order that we are receiving enough patriarchal impartation. This process is SOOO good, there's such a huge fingerprint of God's design in it, when two hearts connect in such a way. So this is our vision in relationship with the youth we know, as well as some people who have emerged into adulthood and are waiting for patriarchs (and matriarchs, too).

I believe we all have an open door to this call if we look for it. Sons, daughters, friends, nephews, nieces, people in our churches, and neighbors. One could look into any charity and would find shepherd-less sheep by the droves. Let's open our eyes. Please pursue this with us.

BLUE MONDAY-RED TUESDAY

Talking with our professional counselors with Turning Point the other day, we found out that Monday, January 17 was officially "Blue Monday." This day has been discovered to be the most depressing day of the year. Far enough away from the holiday, a Monday, middle of the month, and typically horrible weather (this year did not disappoint).

With this in mind, we do recognize that depression is so real to many around us, not just amongst the youth. We're so glad to have our counseling office right in our Centre, and we long for this ministry to be made more use of. Yet we also see in our lives a hope that cures depression. Proverbs says that "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (prv13) and us YFCers have a hope growing that God is doing something amazing in our hearts and in our community.

Myself, Gord, and Eric have all been going through a spiritual awakening to God's heart...the very direction He wants to take this youth ministry. We're seeing our lives changes, we're seeing lives being changed around us. The sense for us in leadership is that we are to wait on God more consistently (those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength - Is40), and let the big flair of youth ministry go if need be. He will make things happen, so we trust. And yet...He IS making things happen already!

We may have had a Blue Monday, but a Red Tuesday is dawning and He is calling us to come alongside what He is doing. Is there hope? HA HA HA...yes and amen!

Here's some pics I took at the Drop-In that I felt symbolizes the Blue Monday - Red Tuesday vision. They were taken recently, early on a cold, brisk, beautiful morning.

the light comes out of the darkness

and what a glorious light it is!

another contrast of light and darkness, taken from inside.

God bless!
Mark von Riesen

CHRISTMAS underCURRENTS

'twas the season NOT to be jolly?

I don't know about you, but to me Christmas can easily be filled with thoughts of happy families with stockings by the fire, egg nog, ugly sweaters and plum drops (?). Well it's probably not that ridiculous for you to hear me say that this isn't so for a lot of people. Or even to hear that this isn't the predominant feeling for MOST everyone during the "happy" holidays. Depression sky-rockets and moods intensify as "family" can conjure up all sorts of negative thoughts and feelings for many in our society.

This difficulty is especially prevalent in the youth culture that we're around at the Drop-In. Instead of being a warming refuge, family to many is a soil of hostility. Well it wasn't so different at the actual birth of Christ, as Jesus himself was sought after to be killed as a baby by Herod. The story is revealed in a more intense light as John reflects in the book of Revelation about the woman and the dragon, who waiting to devour her child when he was born (ch 12). Not getting his way, the dragon wages war on all her offspring - those who hold to Jesus.

The reality of the situation with us at Christmas is that there are HUGE undercurrents of this war going on that destroys hope, the family, and the realization of Christ. In December, we at YFC saw a work God was doing with us leaders and the youth, for a number of youth had come to their end of purpose in their lifestyles apart from God. This softening and revelation has been a long time coming for many youth, and we praise God as much time and prayer has be invested.

Over the holidays, this change in our youth faced some difficult set backs due to familiar surrounding that induce negative habits (same friends, same parties, dysfunctional families...etc.). Now we're in a new year, and the fight remains; the fight for transformation of hearts against the habits of distruction. The fight behind the scenes...against an unseen enemy. Your prayers are greatly coveted.

On a lighter note, we were able to celebrate Christmas in a positive light - with a place, party, and friends apart from the habits of destruction.

this year we featured a "candy fondu" for Christmas (don't worry, we provided lots of fruit to go with it - which was more popular anyway)

the Banqueting Table

Hey Hey! Just a quick note to say that Niverville YFC's Banquet Fundraiser held on November 24th was a great success! We were able to have a wonderful meal together with about 200 people in the ambience of Niverville's Atrium. With this, we shared our present context and future vision as a ministry; Eric McMahon shared the story of our skatepark (see previous post) and our volunteer, Kaeleb Visram, shared his story of hiring one of our Drop-In teenagers and seeing the ensuing change in the young guy's life. There was also some great music and great financial support for the Drop-In. THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME OUT!! and thanks to those who care enough to have considered coming, or even those who read this. You're amazing!

-Mark von Riesen

24 HOUR SK8ATHON: the story of pedestrian disturbers making a difference.

Late summer, 2010.
The Niverville Skatepark suddenly burst to life with many many young people on skateboards. It was so exciting to see the skatepark's current relevance years after its conception. Yet this unforeseen emergence meant a major increase in unsupervised activity and so it was our job to facilitate this as best we could. Two things became inevitable: our inability to monitor the skatepark around the clock, and the kids propensity for causing trouble after enough time without enough aim.

Autumn, 2010.
No sign of the skatepark's activity letting up. The activity was exciting, but the potential trouble brewing each day was a bit of a hassle to us, as our need to monitor the park was over and above our already busy schedules. To our amazement, instead of the child-mob getting out of hand, a simple idea planted in their heads by one of us led to the kids initiating a full-on campaign to raise money for the skatepark by means of a 24-hour skate-athon!! Now the idea was completely planned and carried out by the kids at first, and they did a great job, but it wasn't actually going to work fully. So we came alongside their ambition, and set up the fundraising campaign, helped plan the event, and made it happen with them.

Halloween, 2010.
The first-ever 24-hour skate-athon took place. The kids were able to raise over $5000 for the skatepark, and they facilitated a period of constant skateboarding for 24 hours straight. Professionals from the Edge Skatepark in Winnipeg came out to put on a demonstration and help us out. A few skateboarding companies sponsored the event, and offered prizes to many of the participants. All in all...a story of great success, as we truly believe in the hope and potential in every young person.









*our banquet fundraiser is WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH!

design thinking

The summers at YFC have traditionally been a time for the ministry and staff to reset, refocus, and re-establish ourselves into what we're doing and why. We were able to have a staff retreat day in July, and a staff reflection week in August; these being times for us to work together in planning our future. Part of this process is also spending time corporately and individually seeking the heart of God, actively listening to what He's saying about EVERYTHING!

The trends of our youth are changing, and we are constantly attempting to analyze the hearts of such trends. Exterior changes come and go and focusing on them can be fruitless time consumption for youth workers, BUT...learning about the issues that drive them can be valuable understanding that helps us connect with youth, and direct them to their potential.






In our reflective focus this summer, we came across an idea called "design thinking." It involves the innovative business-minded thinking for the future, met with creative ideas that are yet to be relevant. Experts say that the idea needs to be irrelevant in order not to be a "catch-up-to-relevance" idea. The process of design thinking involves a "no stupid question" policy, where the necessary and brilliant idea comes from a hundred bad ones before it. We liked this idea, and the type of process it involves. Not so much the need to be irrelevant - so we coined the term "pre-relevance," where at times our ideas might feel a bit irrelevant, but we understand with design thinking that the youth culture can adapt in relevance to our ideas. These ideas are not merely us trying to dictate relevance, but to catch on to the changing wind of the Spirit, knowing God's heart about what is priority in life, and then being initiators towards this end while inviting the world to join us.

This pursuit of pre-relevance is often quite a challenge - the exact difficulty AND need for this new generation. The youth trend these days seems to be apathetic towards youth ministry trying to be cool anyway. "Design thinking" is a powerfully worded phrase, too, as we apply God's design in our world and in human nature to understand where teenagers are at. This applies to being pre-relevant as well. So we're believing that God is actually calling us towards His "design thinking" in order to help us help others...and we're excited about this calling! So what does this mean practically? Well...that is what we're looking and praying into. There may be some different ideas coming down the pipe for us (it also explains some the "interesting" ideas we've already had...and this is only encouraging us more!).

- Mark von Riesen

vive le montreal!

YFC'S NATIONAL MINISTRY CONFERENCE: held in Montreal, started on June 26th. This year all three of us staff were willing and able to make it out to the conference...unprecedented in Niverville's history! YFC Canada has done such a great job in bringing together the staff from all across the country each year to encourage and equip the staff, and network and expand the ministry.

We have to admit that for us young staffers, a chance to get out of town is always enticing, but also beneficial to be strengthened in our ministry from beyond the walls our Drop-In Centre and Niverville. The spiritual focus, and the fellowhips of the YFC community are huge blessings to us as well. YFC is a parachurch (outside of the church) youth ministry, and although North American youth ministry has grown vastly in its resources, it's been almost entirely in the realm of church ministry. Therefore parachurches like YFC remain isolated and unresourced, and so its staff can easily feel the same. The annual NMC does wonders at combating such isolations.



One of the "hot topics" the we faced at the conference was the issue of retaining our organization's charitable status. The issue in our country begs the question, "how much are we willing to compromise?" Recently, a Christian charity went under due to a lawsuit from an employee who "came out" as a lesbian and was subsequently fired. The way the YFC Staff Manual is worded can put us as an organization at huge risk to such threats. The balance we struggle with is how to word our manuals, and approach such delicate issues with a non-faith-compromising manor WHILE not intending to offend, divide, or belittle others. I guess even before this question, we ought to be asking ourselves if such a balance even exists. Believing in SOMETHING greater than ourselves, and a better way, can have such ugly ramifications in a country intolerant of its own founding faith. A strange predicament we face here in Canada.

Lastly, on another note...at this conference I, Mark von Riesen, was honored with a 5-year staff award presented by the Youth for Christ National Director, Dave Brereton. God has been so faithful to me in these 5 (actually 6 by now) years of service, and I'm so greatful that He continues to use me, love me, and help me into the heart of youth ministry here in Niverville.

- Mark von Riesen