enroute

At Youthfront/Sonlife, we value the relationships that God provides for us.  In reality, it is the only way that our ministry can survive.  Over the past 27 years, God has blessed us with some deep friendships and partnerships that have hopefully served each other well. In any relationship, there are always misunderstandings and missteps in the relationship but hopefully through it all there is a belief in the other person or organization.  These past few years, we at Sonlife (and now Youthfront) have desired to gather a group of people around us who share the same values as we do and see what God does when we come together.

The training world for a youth ministry organization seems to be changing quickly where the “new” big is really “small.”  There seems to be many factors that affect the hesitation to commit to any training organization.  It could be that churches are financially tight, it could be that regional networks would rather train themselves or it could be that people aren’t as loyal as they once were.  Let me say this however, this isn’t a bad thing - there are many training organizations that do a great job and people should go to their training event.

This week is an exciting week for us at Youthfront/Sonlife.   We are re-engaging a long relationship that we had with a denomination for many years.  We are so excited with the opportunity to speak into the lives of their youth leadership, their regional leadership, their youth pastors and their volunteers.  We really view this as a partnership not as us bringing something to them that they need to hear.  We want to learn from them and hopefully serve them well.

For me, this isn’t totally about a partnership with an old time Sonlife friend.  This partnership reminded me of why Sonlife merged with Youthfront.  This partnership reminded me of why we need to partner with the church down the road.  This partnership reminded me of why we need to partner with the community association in our neighborhoods.

My hope today is that God is proud of the partnership between an old Sonlife friend and the new Sonlife.  Today, my prayer for you is that God stirs in your heart, the desire to reconnect with an old friend or partner with a new friend.

- Matt