enroute

One of the things that I love about my job at Youthfront/Sonlife is that I get to interact with people on a daily basis who are passionate about the kingdom of God and desire to partner with like-minded hearts to see what God could do in and through us.

There are youth pastors and youth workers around North America who have partnered with us as an organization and took a chance on what we believe God has called us to.

Usually that chance involves a financial cost but it also involves a greater risk and that is allowing Youthfront/Sonlife to speak into their team and their ministry.  I know from past experience that there is nothing worst than having to debrief with your team after a “bad” experience.

There is the business side to what we do but the other side of the equation is really our desire to partner, lift up, encourage, and prod these youth groups and youth workers to think about what God is up to in this world.  Our dream is always that these partnerships would move to friendships.

We have learned lessons along the journey and continue to try and posture ourselves with an attitude of constant learning.  We have made mistakes, came with an attitude at times and even said things that we probably regret saying.  We are learning as we go and are trying to figure out always what the next right step is.

These past two days, I was in San Antonio with the Evangelical Free Church of America who a year ago entered into a partnership with us at Youthfront/Sonlife.  These leaders (Fritz, Shane, Rob, Jim, and Dan) committed with SMC team to use Sonlife as the primary tool for their people.  They believed in us and took a chance.  Many of their team that was hosting Enroute training seminars in their areas had never even experienced one themselves.

We have both made some right moves and questionable moves in the last few months.  They have spoken heavily into the content revisions and I believe that when the new Enroute is released in the next few months it will serve youth pastors well.

This partnership with the Free Church started out as that, a partnership but I believe after these last few days, it has turned to a friendship.  What’s the difference you might ask – I think a partnership is built on equal terms but a friendship is built not knowing what you might get back in return.  A friendship costs more than a partnership but the beauty with a friendship is that it doesn’t necessarily involve business.

Thanks Free Church guys —- Mike King, Chris and myself appreciate you deeply.

Matt