February 20, 2012

    Two years ago. Two years ago today, my mom called and told me that she had died. That my little brother had been in the room. That the sixteen-year-old girl I still saw as that adorable seventh grader that never sat still in small group had gone to be with Jesus in heaven, where the pain of cancer wouldn't bother her any more. Just writing that sentence has me in tears. I didn't get a chance to speak to her, to go to her funeral. I was 2, 000 miles away in Indiana.
    Robin, I still grieve over the fact that when I moved to college, I didn't work harder to keep in contact. I became the leader I swore I never would be. One that was around for a year and then moved on. I still ask God to let you know that I love you, that you are still missed. You are the drive behind my pursuit of Lifeline girls. That maybe God can use my bad decision for His good, that what I learned through you can be used to show other middle school girls that God loves them even when the world is telling them they are unworthy of love. I don't want to abandon them like I feel I abandoned you.
    You are the reason behind why I pursue these girls, why I love them so much, why I want to be better. I still have that picture of the four of us, you, Shelley, Anna, and me, up in my house. I want other seventh grade girls to feel a bond like we did. I want God to use me, like He clearly has used you. It's clearly God who is doing this, that two years later, you are still involved with impacting others for the kingdom.
    The last six months, two more teenage girls have passed away because of cancer here in Elkhart. Everywhere I looked, I saw a "Sarah Strong" t-shirt or another sign showing that the town had rallied behind those girls, even after they lost their battle. On Saturday, one of my girls organized a fashion show to benefit Eunice Pena and the American Cancer Society. I couldn't look at the picture of Sarah, because all I saw was you. You with your friends, you with Andrew, you with your parents. I know that God has a perfect plan in all of this, and I just want you to know that it has spilled over from Washington all the way to Elkhart, Indiana. That because of you, I understand the urgency and necessity of loving middle school and high school girls. Because of you, my heart wants to love them without conditions, with the love Jesus has for them. The way you loved others.
    Robin, you have had a profound impact on me, on the life of my brother, on your friends and family. I am proud to say that I spent a year or two getting to live life with you, being goofy with you. I can't wait to see you in heaven. Thank you for your forgiveness, love of life, and love of Christ.

   Jenna

Prayer Request for Lifeline

I recently received an e-mail from my church in Spokane asking for prayer requests. Right now Lifeline is in need of a lot of prayer in our decisions for our future so I wanted to share with you the e-mail that I sent to New Community. 

Five Months ago our building was destroyed in a fire. Even though at the time it seemed like a tragedy God has really blessed us. In the last five months the kids coming to our programs has increased by over 25% and we are partnering with the school systems and the local YMCA much more closely so praise God. Right now we are trying to decide what God wants us to do with our building. All of our building except for the gym is a total loss and is being torn down this week. Furthermore the insurance adjusters, and inspectors are not certain the foundation around the old building is safe to build on so we are not certain we can rebuild in that same location. We want to rebuild but are trying to explore all the options and make sure that Lifeline will continue to remain relevant in the community. There are many partnerships and opportunities that are opening to us right now we just need wisdom on the right decisions. We want to make a decision soon, but also do not want to make a quick decision on a facility that will be permanent.

 Thanks for your prayers!

-- 

Caleb Stanton

Lifeline Youth Ministries

574.322.5332

February Already! Awww

Oh man I can not believe that next week is February already, it is amazing to think that we have been doing Lifeline clubs for 4 months without a building!! These have hands down been the most challenging 4 months I have ever had at any job in my life. However I am very thankful God has put myself and Lifeline through this whole process, it has allowed us to re-think virtually everything we do here. And I am excited to announce that in February all clubs except elementary will be meeting in our new space at the YMCA. This is a huge blessing for these clubs and will help us be much more effective in focusing on making disciples.

Please continue to pray as we move forward.  In the next 6 months there will be in my opinion more important decisions made then there ever has in Lifeline's 50 years of ministering to kids in Elkhart. God is blessing us in so many ways and opening so many doors, possibilities, and ideas for Lifeline right now so we covet your prayers as we look for the Lords direction for the future of Lifeline.


Also if you have been wondering what we are up to in the day to day or just want to see the kids smiling faces this is the best way to do that:
http://www.facebook.com/LifelineElkhart 

Thanks You for all of the support, love, and prayers!

Caleb Stanton

God is Starting Something New

Since the fire, many things have changed! We obviously have no building, office, or an easy place to meet. I miss having our programs in a place with a working kitchen, I miss our cafeteria, our small group and large group rooms, and I Really miss having my own office (Picture). However God has decided to start something new with Lifeline this year, and in spite of all the hardship God is doing an AMAZING work with Lifeline right now.

Are we under a lot of financial strain....Yes, are our working areas tight....Yes, and tensions a little high because we are working long hours....Very much a YES. But God is blessing us in ways we never even imagined. In the weeks after the fire we moved our Elementary program into Mary Beck elementary, our Middle School to an old Elementary School gym, and the girls are meeting a different volunteers house every week. We had 16 kids come to know Jesus Christ as there personal savior in just two week, and had our numbers explode!!

We have seen growth in all of our programs this year, however the area we have seen the most growth in (by far) is the Elementary Club. The week before the fire we had 35-40 kids signed up for our program. Today that number is well over 100 kids, and we are seeing new kids come EVERY week! In fact we have kids from Hawthorne Elementary (the elementary school Jenna works at) that want to come but can't get a ride to club and our vans are to full to pick them up!

It is not only the kids that are noticing, after being at Mary Beck Elementary for only a few weeks, Hawthorne came to me and asked what it would take to start a Lifeline program at there school as well!! Praise God, without the fire we would not have had the opportunity to enter the schools like we did. And now we reaching over twice as many kids as we were before and soon could double that number again! So please continue to pray! I am working on getting volunteers, food providers, staff, bus drivers, and churches that want to be a part of launching a SECOND Lifeline elementary program. My goal is to launch after Christmas break, that would be Jan 16th. So please keep us in your prayers. Thank you for your prayers and support over these last few months Jenna and I really appreciate it and love you all!

Also follow this link to Like our Facebook page for more updates and pictures!
Lifeline Youth Ministries

Aftermath of the Fire "More than a building"

Family and Friends

As I am sure you are all aware Sunday September 23rd our Lifeline building was destroyed in a fire that started in a building behind Lifeline. While the fire came as a huge shock to us it has been neat to see what God has done in the aftermath of that fire. We have setup a temporary office at the YMCA, found 3 different locations for our different club programs, had almost 150 volunteers come to help our cleanup and salvage efforts, and had countless other phone calls and donations to keep everything running. Praise be to God we have not missed a beat, we did not miss a single club or lose any club members, in fact we are growing in spite of losing our building. I have also seen more kids come to Christ in this period time then I ever have! We have had 16 kids come to know Christ as their personal savior in the last two weeks!! So while our building is mostly destroyed, and many look at us with sadness and pity we feel blessed because we know that the work of God is not limited to a building! While we still have many struggles to overcome we are certain God has prepared the way for us! 

Pray God will continue to use this opportunity to affect many lives in Elkhart, and pray also as we find out how much money we will receive from the insurance company on Monday and that number will greatly impact our plans of re-building and moving forward. Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement during this time!

God Bless

More information and pictures available at https://www.facebook.com/LifelineYFC

June June June

Busy, busy, busy. The word that most aptly describes our life right now! It feels like we haven't stopped running since school got out in May. Summer activities are in full swing right now, keeping Caleb and the staff very busy through the week. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 1-3pm, they take 40-45 kids to the local pool. On Wednesdays, it's open clubhouse for a few hours. Open Gym is on Tuesday nights for Jr. and Sr. High boys, while across the street, the BBQ at the River Run Apartments is underway. And I can't forget the non-scheduled activities, where we build relationships in smaller groups. We are enjoying the informal schedule of the summer, where we can focus on building the kids up, building our relationships with them, and just plain hangin' out. There is nothing better than having thirty kids voicing their excitement to see you :)

Here are some highlights from the last month:

• Caleb's counseling training: Every Monday until August 20th, Caleb travels to Lafayette, IN to take classes in biblical counseling training. It goes from 9am to 9pm, and the end half of the day is spent observing actual counseling sessions. 
• Jenna's trip home: Jenna took a quick trip back to Spokane to see her brother, Chris, graduate from high school. We are VERY proud of him and his accomplishments. It was very good to be home for even a few days. 
• Indianapolis: Jenna's birthday was June 17th, so we spent the weekend in Indianapolis as a birthday get-away weekend. We visited the zoo, watched a dolpin show, ate delicious food, shopped, and visited an art musuem. It was a great time, and Caleb enjoyed his first days off in two weeks. 
• VBS/Camp: This week, our church put on their VBS program. Six elementary kids from Lifeline joined Caleb and our new intern, Jessica, at Sugar Grove Church and got "Zapped" this week. From what we hear, the kids are enjoying it alot! We also had six kids up at a week-long camp with another church. We picked them up today, and found out that two of our girls who went up to camp committed their lives to Christ!!! And a boy who attended VBS also accepted Christ!! Praise Jesus! This is a huge highlight for us, to see the Lord moving in our kids' hearts. 

Some things to pray for:

• A house: We have been looking to buy a house in the next few months. Please pray that God leads us to a house that serves our ministry but also is a space to relax when we aren't at Lifeline. 
• Energy: The summer activities require a lot of energy. Pray that we can keep up with these crazy kids.
• New believers: Pray that the Lord guides our words and actions as we help our three new believers learn how to be followers of Jesus.

Thank you for being such wonderful friends, family, and support for us. It has been a long year and we are so thankful to have you behind us, even though we may no longer live near some of you. If you ever have any questions, or want to get involved, please let us know!! God Bless!

Fishing Tournament

One of Caleb's many roles at Lifeline is being the Sports Director and being a member of a local sports league. During the summer, the Michiana Youth Sports League puts on a fishing tournament as one activity for kids to take part in. We brought twelve kids from nine to sixteen years old, along with three very helpful volunteers! The tournament was held at Potato Creek State Park (the site of our future camping adventures in the next couple months.) The league includes Boys and Girls Clubs from the area, so we had some stiff competition. However!!! We dominated :) Overall, the group caught 104 inches of fish, the longest being a 9 1/2" fish caught by Demetrius. The second place team only caught 45 inches. It was a fun morning of fishing, baiting the hooks with worms, untangling lines, teaching kids how to cast, and pulling the hook out of a fish's mouth. Reminded me of when my dad (Mark Ainslie) taught me how to fish and had so much patience with me as I learned. Here are some pictures of the successful fishermen and fisherwomen!

Ashley and Isabell

Eager fishermen!

These guys caught the most fish in the entire group!

Daniel and Christian :)

Tyshawn Knight, who, on the banner we received, wrote Tyshawn Stanton instead :) 

Andrea kicked butt, catching three fish!

The whole group minus volunteers. So proud of them and first place!!