Four Year Marching Orders...its all in the hat.

In January 2012, God gave us 4 year "marching orders."  We were at the Young Life All Staff Conference in Orlando. On night 2, all 5,000 Young Life staff were offered a chance to be prayed for before heading out for the evening. We couldn't think of anything to be 'prayed for.'  Life was going well and the night life of socializing beckoned. We looked at each other and neither wanted to be the one who finalized that we didn't need prayer. So, we decided to go ahead and accept the offer.  We walked up front and prayed with longtime Everett and Seattle natives, Mike and Shari Gaffney.  As we prayed, we felt an incredible clear sense from the Lord that we were to partner with God over the next four years until the next All-Staff Conference to launch a dynamic, long lasting ministry at Mariner HS, my alma mater.  It felt like a tall order.  Mariner had not had Young Life for 12 years.  It has been historically a tough-to-rally, urban, low-income, diverse and 'closed off' school that is known for giving Christian youth leaders the 'boot' from being on campus.  We had no adults involved or on the radar. Regardless, we accepted this assignment.  As we walked away from prayer, immediately I quizzed Tanya, "Wait, but what happens after four years? Is God foreshadowing that we will die, or get fired by YL, or something else?" We left with a clear sense of calling to start Mariner YL yet a pit feeling in our stomachs of a mysterious future ahead.

Fast forward to spring of 2015. Mariner has come of age.  A team of 5 leaders who all were volunteering in the school, 8 supportive Christian teachers, a team of supportive adults in place, students planning and executing a successful club, and Mariner was officially on the map in South Everett and within the open and welcoming hallways of Mariner HS.

In fact, June 1st, our area hired longtime volunteer Nick Johnson as our new full-time staff to head up Mariner to take the next steps as a ministry. The very next day, Ken Tankersley, the NW Divisional Vice President of Young Life called Jeff.  He informed him of an opening within Young Life for the Regional Director Position in the Inland NW, Eastern WA and Northern Idaho, and that Jeff's name had repeatedly come up in a search process.  'Tank' asked Jeff to put his name in the 'hat' for the pool of candidates.

This is when we realized that it was 4 years ago that God had given us direction and we had completed what he had asked.  Now, perhaps he was unveiling that 'next' thing that did not involve death or firing.  After much counsel, we agreed to put Jeff's name in the hat because, what could it hurt to simply put one's name in a hat, right?  :)

It all began here and we are excited to share in future posts what has come about as we have followed Jesus' lead.