YouthWorks 20th Anniversary Recap

This past weekend YouthWorks threw a party! This party was full of wonderful memories, reconnection of old friends, laughter, tears of joy, and most importantly giving the praise for the hand of God that has been so faithful throughout twenty years of ministry.

 

The festivities began when people began walking through a collection of YouthWorks memorabilia. These physical artifacts of YouthWorks days of old caused staff, new and old, reminisce upon their own YouthWorks journey. There were YouthWorks vans where people could write down the names of their YouthWorks vehicles they had when they were on staff, (names varied from “The Struggle Bus” to “Dolaris.”) marketing materials, training materials, devotional books, and Reverb magazines. These objects brought on waves of laughter and stories and provided a tangible timeline for how YouthWorks has grown over the past two decades.

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of these tangible memories, there was a space for people to interact and talk about their connections to YouthWorks. It was so humbling to see how many people came to support this ministry. There were community members that traveled all the way from Pittsburgh and St. Louis, past participants and youth pastors drove from Wisconsin, full time staff and summer staff that represented all twenty years of the ministry, and many other groups that people. It was a true representation of what YouthWorks is – a beautiful collage of people working together to bring glory to God.

 

    

 

After dinner there was a time to share Yea God’s, which is YouthWorks lingo for lifting up praises to God. During this time a variety of people shared. Three stories in particular stood out to me the most. The first came from a lady named Nadine. She is a community member from St. Louis and had her neighbor drive her up to Minneapolis just so she could be there for the celebration. She shared about how a group this past summer surprised her with some new kitchen appliances and flooring which was life changing for her. What stuck out about the story was the relationships that she built with the staff. They spent time getting to know her and that is what really made the lasting impact. In so many ways, Nadine’s story was about a relationship, which is what YouthWorks is all about.

 

 

The second story came from a youth participant named Brody. He has been on multiple YouthWorks trips and was ecstatic to be at the party and meet all the people of YouthWorks. He shared how YouthWorks has changed his life and he cannot wait to work for YouthWorks when he is old enough. There was so much joy in his eyes and it was refreshing to see how much he loves YouthWorks and the energy he had when sharing about it.

 

The last story that stuck out came from a former full time employee named John. He shared about his years at YouthWorks and how he was thankful for the way people cared for him during his time there. He knew that even if he had a rough day there were people that would pray with him and have a conversation with him. He felt valued which was something that had a huge impact on him. Once again it was about the relationships that were built within YouthWorks.

 

These three stories stuck because they were people with three totally different connections to YouthWorks and have all had their lives impacted by the ministry. Hearing their stories was a reminder of how God is working through YouthWorks and will continue to work in small and big ways.