This One Thing I Do

by Ron Everingham

Once I had a dream that God would use a youth center to impact the lives of hundreds of teens on the reservation. This thought - vision - idea came to me while serving on one of our regular stops with a bus ministry out in a little reservation town called Canyon Day back in 1999-ish. I'll never forget sitting on the sidewalk talking to my friend Tim Hirschy about the dream. Would it be possible to start something that had never been? Would the tribal council go for it? Would teens even hang out there? Where would we build it? How would we build it? How would we fund it? Questions seemed endless, but there was always a quiet confidence that God would do something big. We just needed to have a "this one thing I do" kind of focus. And our "one thing" is to empower Apache youth to impact the world, for Jesus.

Have you ever felt this confidence? I can imagine that you have had a dream or two along your way. Did you trust God? Did you persevere? What is your "this one thing I do" kind of focus? The "one things" happen in your life when you catch a vision. You have a burden. I know a lot of you reading this blog right now. And I'm so thankful to say that you also believed in the "one thing" that God placed in our hearts for Apache youth. Without the prayers and resources of Gods people, and staff moving in to help, we'd still be sitting in a dumpy ole' broke-down house out by Gernimo's cave. But you believed, you believed that God would do amazing things through us on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation ... and indeed He has.

Paul reminds of this kind of focus in Philippians 3. He gives us some amazing imagery of finishing a race, reminding us that if we are thinking with mature minds we should think this way. That we should forget what lies behind us, strain forward to what lies ahead, and to "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." This was Paul's "one thing". He had such great focus and clarity, he was prepared to finish the race.

This summer is a summer of celebration for our youth center. 10 YEARS of open doors to the White Mountain Apache community! I'm still in awe over all that God has done. But with mature minds, we press forward to what lies ahead. Currently we are serving hundreds of teens per week at our youth center and through our programs. Our average attendance at our youth center remains at over 75 per day, maybe as many as 400 per month! One of the most exciting things that has happened this school year is the growth of "The Rising". A weekly youth church service, that we have partnered with some others on, has been having a regular attendance of over 75 teens! I want to ask each of you to continue to pray and support these efforts. In order to show these teens (that are continually bombarded with the evil) that there is a God who loves them and a Jesus that died for them, we MUST keep our operations running smoothly. Right now, we need to raise monthly support for the operational costs of the youth center and we are raising funds for a couple of mini-vans so that we can offer more students rides to church and our programs. In order to press forward, these are our needs. Thank you for contributing your prayers and resources. Contact me now if you can help.

Imagine how different lives are going to look 10 years from now. How exciting to think that we are impacting lives now and, by the power of Jesus Christ, teens will never be the same. And because of what God is doing in them, they will raise their family differently. You are resourcing the battle as our staff fight in the trenches of the battle-field. Thank you for believing in the "one thing" that God has placed in the heart of AYM...empowering Apache youth to impact the world...for Jesus.