KINGDOM BOUND 2011 THE BLESSED YET

The "Blessed Yet" might not be proper English but it certainly describes Kingdom Bound 2011. I don't know how many people were eventually touched as they walked through the gates of Darien Lake and into the 25th Anniversary Celebration of KB. I can't even keep score in a basketball game (I usually win) let alone give you a count on how many tens of thousands of souls came to soak up some Son. I do know that more young people from Youth With A Purpose Inc. were given the opportunity for a life changing experience than ever before.

You are about to go a little deeper into Kingdom Bound. They are involved in changing lives all year round. It's possible that your association with KB has been just for a few days in August every year. Yes, they are primarily known for one of the most impacting and powerful celebrations of ministry in the world. They also take the time to bless individual families. Before I tell you about some of those individual families, please take a good look at the picture below. The sky over Darien Lake gave a glimpse of what this event was all about.

The clouds formed a Cross in the sky over Kingdom Bound.

YWAP was asked to provide some labor for both the entire Festival and also the set up and take down. Daryl Boss from Xertion Youth was our Site Manager and a pleasure to work with. Most of you have never seen the enormous amount of manpower and effort that goes into the preparation and the closing of KB. We had a special crew of 10 young men from YWAP that were brought in to help set up and take down various parts of  the Worship Tent. Several other young men spent the week in a trailer and were on call 24-7 during the festival. These are young guys from the inner city of Buffalo who seldom receive an opportunity to serve, learn, and grow the way they did that week.

Young men from YWAP help set up the seats in the Worship Tent

On Send a Friend Day, YWAP brought a bus load of 40 young people out to be a part of the ministry. We were able to rent a bus thanks to a donation from some other kind folks. Funny thing, we have been busier this summer than ever before with the least amount of finances that we have ever had. Just in case you have never heard of Send a Friend, it's a program that provides an opportunity for young people who may be underprivileged or have special needs to attend KB. The YWAP home base is located in one of the poorest sections of Buffalo. We are also amongst the most racially diverse areas in the City which is a beautiful place for all of the world's cultures to meet. All of the Send a Friend participants were given a lunch, a shirt and flip flops. The YWAP Director walked back out to his van with a bag of smelly socks and sneakers because the kids all wanted to wear their new flip flops!

Youth With A Purpose dressed in Send a Friend shirts.

Among the children from YWAP, there were young people with no fathers. Some with fathers in jail. Some whose fathers had been murdered. Some had family members in jail or murdered. I will not go into the details but these young people collectively have experienced almost every horrendous act of depravity known to mankind. The kindness of the folks from KB did not stop with Send a Friend. Another family whose Father was murdered on Memorial Day weekend received a days pass for family members. The man was a great Husband, Father, Friend, Grandfather and employee. He was killed sitting on his front porch fixing his Granddaughter's little pink bike. The people at Kingdom Bound went beyond normal compassion and showered this family with mercy and grace. Their actions let this family know that they are valued and loved.

 

Kingdom Bound is a lot more than the easy to see ministry and music, it's about building relationships and mending broken lives. It's about giving value to people who have a hard time respecting themselves. It's about making someone with a broken heart feel loved. It's about providing a safe haven for a day as a respite from living in a broken city. It has been written that "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news," The folks at Kingdom Bound put flip flops on the feet and those young people who then proclaimed peace and brought glad tidings of good things with them back to Buffalo, NY. KB helped to make beautiful feet on some kids who are trying to climb the mountains of life.Thank you to all of the kind people at Kingdom Bound, you truly provided a BRIGHT SPOT for Youth With A Purpose Inc.

If you would like to see more pictures from KB 2011 please go to the link below.


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.253839614643721.73084.111808805513470

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
   

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240

"All Children Are Gifted" 

http://www.facebook.com/bob.kuebler

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.  

Food Bank of WNY

  It would be easy to say that giving food to needy and hungry people creates a Bright Spot. When you read the Food Bank Mission Statement listed below, you will plainly see that it talks about food and hungry people.

 Our Mission 

 Obtain nutritious food and support from public and private sources 

and efficiently distribute these resources to the hungry 

in Western New York through our member agencies. 

The Food Bank of WNY does so much more than just feed hungry people. The Youth Center at Holy Cross Church has been receiving help from the Food Bank for 7 years. We have received a lot more than just food. They have helped us through grants that have enabled us to receive refrigerators and freezers. They have given us training on how to better serve the people who desperately need us. They have given us literally tons of food to feed people that come here from all over Buffalo to eat a hot meal. Now here is the most important thing that The Food Bank of WNY has done for Holy Cross and Youth With A Purpose; they have helped to keep children safe and alive in a dangerous City.




Both of these pictures are from our Annual Thanksgiving Celebration for the whole community. We have a small dining area but we try and accommodate as many people as possible. Each year at special events alone, we will serve over 150 people. During the week in the school year, we will serve between 35-60 children per day with a snack and a hot meal.

Many young people come to our Youth Center because we are a Relationship Center. We take the time to let young people know that they are valued and cared about. The streets of Buffalo are filled with gang recruiters so it is important to give our children a safe place where they can eat, learn and make friends.




So how does the Food Bank keep children from getting killed? In our kitchen at Holy Cross, we have only had 5 people work here in 7 years. Out of those 5 people, 3 of them have had family members who were murdered by a bullet to the head. Our address is 345 7th Street. The Buffalo News referred to 7th Street as "World War III" because of all the shooting that has taken place in the neighborhood. We have had children run into the Youth Center seeking safety as they were being chased by gang members. We have heard the sound of gunfire while we were meeting inside. The conversations at our dinner table sometimes revolve around discussions of violence that the young people have experienced. Unless you spend time on the streets of Buffalo, you would never know what our children are living through.

This is Silvia and Mama on the Stop The Violence Boat Ride. They both work in our kitchen at Holy Cross. Victims of violence and their families were given a night of dining and cruising in the Buffalo Harbor.  Mama's father was murdered on Memorial Day weekend  while he was fixing his granddaughters pink bike. Amongst our kitchen staff, a Mother lost her Son, a Sister lost her Brother, and a Daughter lost her Dad.

The banner below says that the Food Bank is fighting hunger one day at a time. That is true but we would like to add to that. The Food Bank of WNY is saving one life at a time by helping programs like Youth With A Purpose. We lost our major funding in September of 2010. We have struggled to keep providing services to the young people who so desperately need a respite from the violence in their neighborhood. We say thank you to all of the people at the Food Bank for creating a Bright Spot. You are going way beyond the call of your mission statement, you are giving young people a chance to change the world.
                                                 
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
           

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240

"All Children Are Gifted" 

http://www.facebook.com/bob.kuebler

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.  

SAVING WILD HORSES

Saving Wild Horse is saving some young people.

 

 

Last week I was walking around Kingdom Bound's 25th Anniversary Celebration at Darien Lake talking about horses. Actually I wasn't talking as much as listening. A Mom was excitedly telling me about all of the awesome memories that her 3 children have from their experience at Saving Wild Horses.

Smiles and peace away from the city.

She is smiling!

Simply powerful yet gentle, it's kind of like grace.

 On Saturday July 23, a group of YWAP young people left the West Side of Buffalo, New York and headed for a horse farm. We spent the afternoon playing horse games. All of the young people got to ride horses and compete for ribbons. (I think everybody won something.) Horses have a huge impact on children.     I can't begin to describe the bonding experience between a child and a horse. Watching a child smile while sitting on the back of such a huge animal can bring tears to your eyes.

So here we were in the midst of an amusement park filled with thrills, still talking about the thrills from the horse farm. We relived more of the life changing memories from that weekend. After having fun with the horses, we were treated with pizza for dinner by the owners; Mike & Jen Derrick. As the day ended and stars began to fill the sky, we gathered around a camp fire. The young people shared some Smores and some more smiles. Several hours went by before the flames from the fire stopped dancing and it was time to say good night. We ushered the young people into the tents that would be their beds for the night. Kids who live in the city do not go to sleep easily in the silence of the country. The noise of the city ranges from loud music to gunshots in contrast to the peepers of the country.

A perfect picture of Faith (the horse.)

A YWAP Smore chef.

Jen telling a Bible story.

Five star accommodations, well actually we saw a lot more than 5 stars!

A trip to the horse farm wouldn't be complete without a dip in the old watering hole!

Our dreams were interrupted by a heavy down pour and the music of thunder and lightning. After breakfast, it was time for the highlight of the weekend - Cowboy Church. We gathered in the riding arena and took our seats. The message was about being set free and trust. We watched in awe as Scot Tillinghast from Faith Step Ministries http://www.faithstepministries.com/ began to build trust with an animal a lot bigger and more powerful than he was. The relationship between Scot and the horse mirrored our relationship with God. We fight to keep control of our own destiny when God wants complete surrender. Scot was attempting to encourage the horse to enter into a horse trailer. At one point, it appeared that we were about to witness a disaster that could possibly endanger Scot's life. As he stood in the trailer and pulled on the reins, the horse reared up and pulled back so hard that Scott crashed to the floor of the trailer landing square on his back. Thankfully the horse pulled back and did not land his front hooves on top of Scot. Eventually Scot gained the horse's trust and lead him into the trailer. The audience clearly received the message that surrender can lead to being set free. Trusting God leads to eternal freedom.

Scot preaching with his horse at Cowboy Church.

Our trip to Saving Wild horses was only 2 weeks ago and it only lasted for a day and a half yet left children with a lifetime of beautiful memories. Thank you Saving Wild Horses http://www.savingwildhorses.org/ for giving the young people from YWAP a Bright Spot in their young lives.

YWAP is able to take young people on these life changing trips because of the generosity of our supporters. If you would like to partner with YWAP and help change lives please contact us, our kids need you.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

"Find new ways, 

  in as many ways, 

    in more excellent ways, 

      on all of your days, 

        to show love." 

Bob Kuebler
YWAP Director

Youth With A Purpose

In School & After School
In The Mountains & In The Hood

157 Locust Street

Buffalo, New York 14204

716-830-8240

"All Children Are Gifted" 

http://www.facebook.com/bob.kuebler

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-With-A-Purpose-Inc/111808805513470

http://thebrightspotreport.blogspot.com/
If you are looking for a speaker for parents or youth or both, please call us.