Anchored Warriors

"This years NYC was so, so amazing! God is so good to us! Thanks to all the staff for your hard work and all the youth who came and were stellar to the max! Go make a difference, it's your time to be who God has called you to be!" - NYC Chaperone/leader

"Well i can say i miss everyone from NYC it was the time of my life everyone i met this year and everyone i met it the past years u all mean the world to me.... i got to say it was well ran by the NYC committee..." - NYC attendee

"Best NYC ever!!" - said by more than one NYC attendee


Every year I am so encouraged and exhausted by the end of NYC. This year was no different. The weekend was amazing! We had more youth than ever before and the whole weekend was a constant buzz of activity, laughter and the sound of 350 youth/young adults and leaders having fun! The love of God was shown and taught over the weekend and many 115 youth/leaders came forward to accept and start living in the Hope and Love of God. Here is an account of the weekend from two of the key leaders/missionaries that have been involved in NYC for the last 18 years!

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,

that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9-10

The line-up for registration snaked out the door and down the sidewalk. Full of anticipation and nervous energy the Native Youth Conference (NYC) leadership team put approximately 350 people through in about 2 hrs.

Sitting in the prayer room before the main speaker session started, I listened as over a dozen First Nation adults/youth cried out to God to draw their youth to Himself and bind the enemy.

Through tears I headed to the prayer counsellor room where 115 youth/young adults were being directed after stepping forward for first time decisions to follow Jesus Christ.

We praise God for His work in the lives of so many this past week-end! It was so obvious that people were praying. We did not experience the same ‘darkness’ as usual the first night and sensed that these young people had come the NYC with expectant hearts that the Lord had prepared for ‘such a time as this’.

NOW THE HARD WORK BEGINS!!

We praise God for:

· 55 native and non-native volunteers on the ground that worked long hours to make NYC run smoothly

· Native adult leaders leading the way in both prayer sessions and counselling of youth at NYC

· 330 native youth that attended and no major behavioural issues

· Safely and great weather

· Unity on the leadership team despite differences of opinion and exhaustion

We pray for:

· ***The follow-up of all the new believers. (we’ve got contact info and material in their hands) Anchored Warriors have a big job ahead of them!

· Milly’s mom who still has no diagnoses but is losing weight alarmingly fast

· Wisdom for the NYC team as we evaluate the wk-end and start to make plans for next year.

 

It’s hard to believe how quickly an event can pass after planning for it for so long. Both Dan & I are wonderfully tired and thankful that God has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing through NYC. And we are also thankful that He has given us many prayer warriors to partner with us. We can’t thank you enough.

God is good!"

We are so thankful for all the prayers that were prayed and all the encouragement that was sent our way before and since NYC this year! The whole NYC committee is so excited about where God is taking this conference and how He is going to use all these Aboriginal youth in their homes and communities. Please continue to pray for them as they are back in the same situations and for all the struggles and battles they may be facing over the next several months.

These are the next generation and they are the ones that can and will change things if they want to! We belive in these youth/young adults and all the passions and dreams they have and want to pursue. We believe that when they live in the Hope and Love of God and begin to move towards their dreams and passions using their giftings and abilities, they will make a huge impact in their communities and in the world around them! 

Ephesians 1:10-12 (The Message)

^7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

^11-12It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.