Thursday, March 15, 2007

Hurting Youth Workers Fund

Unfortunately not only is the world of youth workers fairly small, but it also tends to be a very wounded group of people. Over 2 years ago I stumbled upon a forum for youth worker's that was hosted by Youth Specialties, which has since been essentially moved onto Youth Ministry Exchange, it was the first time that I had ever been on a forum or posted on one either. I had always felt alone in the youth ministry world, because I was part-time at my church which made it hard for me to connect with other youth workers in my area. But this forum gave me that opportunity. And as I went through my painful departure at my church these new friends of mine where there to support me.

I was fortunate in many ways than some of my other youth worker friends, because though my church didn't live up to their promise of the 3 month severance package that I was told I would receive when I left, I had a good job to turn to. But many youth workers do not and so they are left stranded. When me and my friends started up YMX we had a dream of a place where hurting youth workers could find a place of refuge and comfort, so we started a special area in the forums for them called "The Oasis", it is a place where they can vent and get some advice while they heal but is safe from everyone's eyes. We also wanted to find ways to help hurting youth workers in other tangible ways, so when a family lost their house on Christmas Eve a few years ago, we had that person set up a Amazon Wish List so we could all buy the family things. And we have done that for other people who have gone through tough times.

Recently, one of our own was let go from his church very poorly. This person is newly married and his wife is 2 months pregnant and the circumstances surrounded his dismissal are not good. Originally, they were but on the end it wasn't. So Adam and Derek decided it was time to do something. So the ball got rolling for a "Hurting Youth Workers Fund". This will become a separate part of the YMX Community, but be very much so the heart of YMX. It will be a charitable organization that will help youth workers who have either been hosed by their churches, which is far too common, or are just having a tough time for whatever reason. Youth workers are unfortunately seen as a dispensable commodity in a church, instead of as an integral, indispensable asset to the churches community.

So we at YMX want to step in and be a help to them. A board is being assembled to assess the needs and dispense the funds as necessary, but for now we need the funds and that is where you come in. We need your help. You will notice on the right sidebar of my blog a widget that will link you to the PayPal account where you can make a donation to help hurting youth workers. So please pray and ask God what it is that you may want to give to help contribute. But I want to first list the rules that Adam posted on his blog....

The rules

I want to be really blunt. We don't want anyone to give $1 to this fund if they are not giving biblically to their local church. We're not doing this to circumvent any church, nor are we encouraging anyone to sin and withhold from their local church to help us. We're serious about that, please... if you aren't giving to your local church, please don't give a dime to this fund. Seriously.


If you can't contribute but would like to post the widget on your blog or Myspace all you need to do is click where it says "copy" and it will give you the code so you can copy the html code to use on your blog or Myspace. Thanks!

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