iced chai latte with vanilla cold foam
The first day of the 2023-2024 school year we knew 266 students throughout all 6 of our active ministries. Only 19 of them were students at Pioneer High School. Honestly, Jeff and I were discouraged and yet excited to see what it really meant to rely on the Lord to do something only He could do, not just in our team's ministry at Pioneer but in all of the ministries in and around Ann Arbor.
So, we showed up. We all showed up. On different campuses, with donuts, at games, performances, coffee shops, parking lots, you name it. Our Young Life Greater Ann Arbor leaders showed up. It was all we knew to do because it is all we are about.
Over the course of a semester our area's leaders knew 318 students. Many of which we were able to spend time with in more personal settings. Some of them went to camp and others were inviting friends in. But it wouldn't, it couldn't end there.
All students, everywhere. So, we showed up.
Today, we know 443 students. Over 77% growth since the beginning of the year. In ministry, we know numbers don't tell the whole story but they do tell a story.
Today, I showed up at the coffee shop across from Pioneer High School where we now know 103 students. I was hanging out with a girl who I met in passing a few weeks ago. We drank coffee, laughed and I listened, a lot, because she's 14. While we sat together I saw Nellie* come in who I've handed donuts to every Friday for the past 8 months. I asked the Lord for an opportunity. My 14 year old friend left and I was two tables over from Nellie* and two of her friends I hadn't met yet. This was the opportunity. I said hi to Naomi and asked them all about the "iced chai latte with vanilla cold foam" they each ordered and they began gushing. One of them paused and said "you're the girl who hands out donuts every week," the other's chimed in "yeah, why do you do that?" I got to tell them about Young Life and how our team cares for them and their friends. l invited them to join us for Young Life summer hangouts starting next month. "That sounds cool."
We show up. We let God create the opportunities and watch Him multiply our loaves and fish, whom we love so much.
Will you pray that I get to order "four iced chai lattes with vanilla cold foam" soon?
— Erin Prior, AA Pioneer Young Life Leader
