Volleyball With Impact.

I wanted to call this blog post "Purpose Driven Volleyball," but that has probably already been trademarked. Here is a great story from a great guy who is doing incredible things down at Doheny:

"Beach volleyball. Words that bring to mind images of busy summer days, Top Gun, or even Summer Olympic gold. What these words do not make you think of is ministry, unity, and salvation. But these are exactly what beach volleyball has brought to the college group at our church. My wife and I spent the past year playing regularly with a couple of friends and after Misty May and Kerri Walsh put the sport back on the
map this summer, we decided to give our college students an opportunity to learn how to play. It was a pretty simple set-up: meet at 8am, warm-up, teach a few skills and play some games. Week by week we were having what we expected, a lot of fun and some memorable moments.

Soon we started grabbing lunch together afterwords and some incredible results began to manafest. What started as a fun interest began to bear a lot of fruit. Here are three realizations as we began to look at what was happening:

1. Ownership. The people who came to volleyball began to take ownership of the group and their faith. These where the ones that became the most excited to participate in our other Bible studies and even planned additional times to get-together to hang-out building up the unity of our group.

2. Evangelism through relationship. Some of our students started to stick around and join up with the Saddleback college class that meets at 10 am. As they built relationships based on volleyball, they started having opportunities to actually show Christian love and share the good news of Jesus, inviting people to church and other
gatherings...

3. and lastly... after playing volleyball, a girl from the college class accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior with one of our college ministry students who had taken a particular interest in volleyball and living out his Christian faith.

The idea of living out our Christian faith is living missional! Praise God for reaching others through us by a fun and silly game!"

A story from Derick Zeulner, a pastor at South Shores, Dana Point.

A Lifestyle Mentor's Support Goes A Long Way

I'd love to share one story from a relatively new lifestyle mentor:

My group currently consists of 3 young ladies and we all are becoming very close. I love it! There is one person that I've been focusing on who I'll call "Mary." Her parents are homeless and they want Mary and her little sister to live with them. Unfortunately this means staying at a motel or in their van in a store parking lot. The kids have been bounced back and forth between their parents and a family that would love to become foster parents to Mary and her sister. Recently Mary had to attend a custody hearing in court, which would decide if Mary and her sister would be able to stay at the foster parent's house for good. I went to court with Mary to give her and her sister support. It was very difficult for Mary because she had to tell the truth about her parents and Mary knew it would expose her parent's faults. Mary had to tell about her parents alcoholism and that they let her and her sister drink with them. It was a very tough time for Mary. We are still waiting to hear what the court's decision is in this heartbreaking situation.

I know God is using me to touch Mary's life. For two weekends in a row Mary has not taken a drink even when her parents offered it to her. She says she does this as a promise to me. Mary also cuts herself and as we've talked about it she has promised to stop that too. Two months ago I couldn't get Mary to talk to me. Now she tells me everything that is going on in her life. It is the same way with the other girls too. Sometimes they give me way too much information but I count it a privilege that they are so open with me. I thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity to serve these girls.

Mentor Spotlight (June): Andrew Hartman

Senior Mentor: Andrew Hartman
Andrew Hartman is currently the Senior Project Manager at Caliber Media Group, prior to joining Caliber, he was the Director of Leadership Development at Biola University. With a Masters of Education from Azusa University, Andrew has always had a love for developing and mentoring others. Andrew joins Project Hangout as a Senior Mentor, a way for career focused individuals with a love for the next generation to stay involved with mentoring. Andrew connects with lifestyle mentor Matt Yriarte and is invested in Matt's kids through prayer and intentionally connecting with Matt. Our structure helps all involved to show God's love through every relationship.

Here is Andrew in his own words:
"I'm excited to be a part of what Project Hangout is doing in the lives of high school students by investing into the lives of the lifestyle mentors. It's incredible to be a part of kingdom expansion as we senior mentors pour into lifestyle mentors,and watch them pour into high school students. "

Andrew and his wife Kelly just recently had a daughter, Emma. They also run a Rock Harbor life group out of their home.

Age: 28
Town: Irvine
Church: Rock Harbor, Costa Mesa

Mentor Spotlight (May): Ashley Silver

Ashley Silver
is our first second generation lifestyle mentor. She joined us in January. Listen to her story:


My lifestyle mentor during my high school years was Jenn Zeulner. Seeing how great Jenn turned out after all her obstacles she had overcome as a teen gave me hope, I looked up to her. She was an anchor for me as I stumbled through high school - a friend in my times of need. I believe every high school student should have someone older in their life (besides a parent - because let’s just be honest - what high school student listens to their parents?). I am now apart of Project Hangout and loving on a small group of girls. “Kim” is a great example of the type of ministry Project Hangout is offering. Kim came to a youth group only because she had gotten in trouble in school. Her parents forced her to come. It was either being locked up in a house with her family, or church. She chose church, to come and sit in a corner. Kim and I connected at a winter camp that I was asked to counsel. Through a 7 hour car ride and endless hours in a hotel room with the power out and a storm raging outside, we grew close. I became someone she could relate to and open up with. She began to spill her heart and ask me questions she didn’t think she could ask her parents or even friends her age. After the trip was over, we began to hangout and I got to know her in her own environment. One day I received a call from Kim’s mother. She called to tell me of the great impact I had on Kim. Her mom explained in detail the transformation that was beginning to take place every time we hung out. The mom stressed how much Kim looked up to me. I am committed to my relationship with Kim and I’ve learned that it takes time; teens just want someone to listen, someone to talk to, to laugh with and someone to trust. I am a lifestyle mentor and one day my hope is that Kim would follow in my footsteps.

--Ashley

Age: 20
Town: Lake Forest
Church: Saddleback, Lake Forest
Group: 2-3 core, relational including coffee, hanging out and shopping.
Meet: Weekly

Mentor Spotlight (April): Matt Yriarte

Matt Yriarte

Age 25
Town: Aliso Viejo
Church: South Shores,
Dana Point
Group: 20 plus guys - skate, surf, snowboard, Bible studies, concerts, working out
Meet: Mondays and sometimes all other days





From Matt himself:

The reason i think this style of ministry is so effective is because of the kids I've seen changed because of it. One example of this is in a kid named Patrick. Patrick came to church for an overnight event we were doing. He had just moved and didn't have a lot of people he knew. We hung out a lot that night and connected. From there we started going to concerts and having lunch with the other guys which got him connected to a larger group of friends. He became a regular in our group and found Jesus. Shortly after that Patrick was convicted for crimes he had committed before he started coming to the group and was put in juvenile hall for 3 months. The day he went in, his mom called me and told me that he was ministering to the other inmates about Jesus. Patrick is doing well now and still apart of our group. One of the things I learned from Patrick was that kids want relationship and someone they can hang out with and trust. I have found that when I am willing to meet them on their level they are in turn willing to trust me more, thereby opening up a relationship where I can minister more as a friend than as some guy that counsels them. I feel that the most effective way for me to have an impact on the lives of my boys is to be real with them, hangout by going to shows, snowboarding, lunch, and by praying with them. Stay gold!