YL Capernaum Everywhere

A guest post from Amber Lewis in Little Rock, Arkansas. Going into Work Week at Windy Gap I honestly had no idea what to expect, I just knew I wanted to go on a road trip with my girlfriends and I wanted them to have an experience of adult friendship as we served together. I’ll tell you more, but to summarize, it was so life giving, so full of fun and so freeing to see my friends come alive, be respected as adults and be called into service. My favorite thing about Work Week was the transformation of my friend, Jordan. In the last two years of getting to know her, I have watched her learn how to be a friend, how to pursue, how to love. But when I met her, she was a loner. She had a couple of people she preferred to be with, but they had to be with her because it was their job. I met her in a carpool drop off. I begged her to be my friend. She hit me in the head. This routine continued for a while until eventually she came to club. We spent time together, and then somewhere in th...

A few years ago, one of our friends in Capernaum was sharing with us about how much she loved babies and she desired, in her simple yet profound way, for people to know God’s love for them.  Our wheels began churning and not much later, Caitlin began serving at the local Young Lives  club.  Young Lives  is Young Life’s ministry with teen moms and the room is filled with diversity both economically and ethnically.   We wondered how the girls would respond to Caitlin taking care of their babies.  After all, she was a girl with a disability and we live in a world that is quick to judge based on outer appearances.  But we sold these girls short and instead every time they gather, we see people that the world deems as scary and unlovable, come together to serve one another.  I’ve watched a few horrific videos this week and my heart is broken with all that is taking place.  We started filming this video in the sprin...

Work week is a great way for our friends to experience serving opportunities! Enjoy this post from Lauren Ford in Highland Park, TX! In May, I had the opportunity to go to Crooked Creek Ranch’s Work Week. Having never been to Work Week, I didn’t know what to expect. On top of that, I was bringing one of my older Capernaum friends, Lainey, who had also never been to Work Week. Little did we know, we were in for a treat! From the second we arrived to the bus for departure, Lainey was ready to help. She constantly asked, “What can I do?” in between singing songs on the bus ride from Texas. Once we got to camp, we reported to our work site - the dining hall. Lainey took ownership of the “juice room” and prepared about 80 pitchers for every meal. She and our other Capernaum friend, Andrew, tag-teamed on making six 42-cup coffee carafes each morning. Once Andrew and Lainey got the hang of their job in the juice room, they started going table to table during meals to refill drinks, which ...

Summer is here which means camp is in full swing which means that many of our Capernaum Alumni are serving at Work Weeks across the country to help get camps ready for the thousands of kids that will be at them this summer. Our friends are busy bussing tables, washing dishes, planting flowers, spreading mulch, organizing skit closets, praying for campers, growing in their faith, meeting new friends and of course, taking the stage! Enjoy this video from Sharp Top Cove of our friend Clay singing his most favorite song with his most favorite singer!

My name is Avery and I am a junior in high school. I first started attending Capernaum as a buddy just at the start of this year. When I first started attending, the motivation was definitely because I wanted to be able to love my friends with disabilities. However, while I have been trying to be Jesus to them through serving, they have ended up being Jesus to me. I’m going to be honest, when I first began writing and thinking through what I wanted to share, I was completely stumped. It had been a while since I had really put myself in a place of stillness and quietness, and lately I’d had a ton weighing on my mind, so on my drive to school yesterday morning I turned my music off for once and just drove in silence. It was in this silence that I realized something for the very first time: I have not been able to truly love my peers like I am called to because I have not allowed myself to receive that same type of love from anyone else. What I mean is: in order to be able to fully pour...

Who in Capernaum doesn’t love bowling?! Yup, we have you stumped! We knew it! Check out this great Capernaum fundraiser that involves the community without our friends in Capernaum having to get sponsors! The area set up a registration site and is charging each bowler $30. This way family, friends and community members can all bowl! A portion of every bowler registration can be applied toward a specific student’s summer camp trip. Bowlers are able to indicate which student they want to support when they register! Thanks for the great idea Brian! We hope your event is a huge success! If you have questions about how they are doing this in Northern Kentucky, contact Brian !

A guest post from Ekow Ankumah…. The past month we have seen the Lord move in powerful ways in Capernaum and at Thomas Jefferson High School (TJ).  Starting a new Young Life Capernaum club in the public school system in Dallas has been tougher than anticipated but it has been really encouraging to see the Lord's faithfulness in the midst of some of our difficulties.  One of our biggest challenges has been our inability to meet parents, and in the past month we have met more parents (6) than we had met from September to March, which was one!   We also have had three students start to regularly attend Young Life clubs and other events where they are he aring about Jesus through our leaders as we walk through the story of Jesus walking on water found in Matthew 14!  At each of our clubs we look at different aspects of Jesus with the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.  Last week at our tennis club we got to hear about how Jesus not only rescued Peter when ...