Dear Family and Friends,

It’s that time of the year — everyone is talking about the end of school and their plans for summer break, which often includes summer camp. 

It’s no different with the boys we work with on a weekly basis.  Over the last few weeks at our Friday morning Breakfast Club, the talk has been all about summer camp.  The kids who have never gone before — which is most of them — are asking all the kids who have all about camp and what it’s like.  

A couple of weeks ago, I jumped right into the conversation and asked two questions of the boys who have gone in the past: what did they like most about camp and what did they like the least? They all agreed on what they liked least: it was too short and it was too dark at night. Well…those are two things I can’t change. It’s going to be dark in the woods, and we can only get the camp for a week right now. One young man asked if we could make camp all summer long because it is so much better than home.

Then they talked about what they like the most, and these answers were all over the place. One young man liked swimming in the lake.  Another liked the day we spent at the beach, and another boy liked the fishing.  One boy preferred the game room. Not surprisingly—because they’re boys and also because Joe Musick is a great cook—several of the boys liked the food the most. One kid sarcastically said that he liked all of my announcements, which I know nobody likes or listeners to—including our staff. I’m pretty sure he was just trying to win some brownie points with me.

But among all of these answers that I expected to hear, one young man’s answer caught me completely off guard. He said that his favorite part of camp was when the two of us walked back to the cabin late one night after chapel, just talking. Honestly, I didn’t remember that at all. So after the boys had dispersed, I followed up with him to ask more questions and figure out why that had been his favorite part of the week. 

He went on to remind me about how he had stayed after to help close up the chapel. By the time we were done, it had started to rain a little bit. We walked back to the cabin and just talked about God and His creation. He told me about all his struggles—about how both his parents had passed away and how he moved with his brothers from Haiti to Florida. The young man just needed an opportunity to talk and have someone listen to him.

It reminds me of Deuteronomy 6:7: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

I am thankful that this young man will be able to go camping again this year, and I am looking forward to many more long, late-night walks in the woods where I will have the opportunity to share Jesus with as many hurting kids as I can.

Will you pray for Leverage Ministries as we prepare for our summer camps? Our first camp—the week-long trip to the Ocala National Forest—is coming up on June 10. We will have additional sports camps later in the summer. Pray that we will be good stewards of our time and take advantage of every opportunity to share Christ with these kids. 

In Him,
Scott Hirdes
Executive Director
Leverage Ministries

P.S. Without the generosity of people like you who support Leverage Ministries, these kids wouldn't be able to attend summer camp or hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you consider sponsoring a camper for $275?  Visit www.leverageministries.org/sponsor-a-camper

A couple of week ago, I met a girl named Joanna at the runaway shelter. She came up to me after I was done sharing for the evening and wanted to talk.  

“When is God going to answer my prayers?” she asked.

Joanna went on to tell me that she has trusted Christ as her Savior and that she reads the Bible and prays every day. But for as long as she can remember, she has been asking God for one good day. One day without pain, one day without hurt. Because that is all she had ever known in her life.

Joanna had been abused by her stepdad from as early as she could remember. When she moved in with her biological father, she was abused by her stepmom. When Joanna was taken out of that home and placed into foster care, she was abused again by her foster parents. 

“For most of my life, I have been in court testifying, and now I am here at the shelter with no family and no place to live,” Joanna said. “I believe in God. I have a Bible and pray, and I listened to every word you said, but my question to you is, when is God going to hear my prayers and give me one good day without pain? When is God going to answer me? Do you know?”  

I was speechless. I didn’t know how to answer her. Sure, I could give Joanna the pat “Christian answer” — something like how all things work together for good for those who trust in God or that God is in control and that we just need to trust Him.  

All those answers are true, but they did not seem like enough. Joanna wanted a real answer, not some platitude that we tell people to be kind.  

I paused for a moment, and then I said, “Joanna, I don’t know the answer to your question. I wish I had a magic wand so that I could make it all better and give you a do-over in life. But the fact of the matter is that I cannot, and nobody else can either.”

She looked at me and said that mine was the first honest answer she had ever received from what she calls the “Bible people.”  

What I did tell her was not to let the past dictate her future and that God created her with desires to have a relationship with Him. I gave her one verse to read from her Bible: 1 John 5:13. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Please pray for Joanna ,and please pray for the staff of Leverage Ministries—that we will have wisdom on how to speak the truth as we face difficult questions like Joanna’s every day and that we will continue to point hurting youth to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

In His Service, 

Scott

News Flash!  Missionaries are real people with real emotions. We experience real highs and lows in everyday life. I wish I could tell you that missionaries are super-Christians who never get discouraged, but that would be a lie.  

Although I’ve been accused of not having any, today’s newsletter is going to be about emotions. I think I might have cried once, either at my wedding or the birth of one of my boys, but I can’t remember which one. It was so strange that I went to the doctor, but he told me that the watery discharge was normal. Just kidding! 

I do have emotions; I just keep them hidden like most men.  

But that was not the case three weeks ago. I was just really discouraged. I wasn’t upset about the ministry with the teens; that was going great. Every day, there are more kids and more opportunities to share Christ. 

Instead, I was discouraged and worried about the finances of this ministry that God started.  That’s right…I was worried about the finances of God’s ministry. I’ve been a missionary for nearly 30 years, and I know that even through the the ups and downs, God has always provide for me every single step of the way.

Every week, I teach teenagers that God is faithful and will meet all our needs if we trust Him, but there I was…struggling with trust. I’ve watched God provide time and again. You would think I’d have learned by now. But I must admit that it is easier said than done.  

I have been working on our inaugural Leverage Ministries golf tournament—the Roger Evans Memorial Golf Classic coming up on May 10. I started asking people and businesses to sponsor our tournament, and for one solid week, the only answer I got time and again was “no.” It was frustrating, and I told God that. I prayed, “God, I know this is your ministry, and this is what you want us to do, but this is difficult and discouraging.”  

I was ready to quit when one young man at our Friday morning Breakfast Club thanked me for picking him up and said to me, “Pastor Scott, I don’t know where I would be without you.”

It was just a simple statement from the boy, but I felt like God was personally speaking to me in that moment, reminding me why I do what I do and that He is in control. I’m a part of Leverage Ministries because of these kids—the at-risk kids who need to hear about Jesus. God has provided for this ministry so far, and He will continue to provide as long as I’m doing my part. 

This past weekend was our church’s annual mission’s conference. To be honest, after 30 years in ministry, I was NOT excited about another mission’s conference. After all, I had more important things to do, like raising money for the ministry.  

But God had other plans. He used the conference to encourage and refocus our ministry and our efforts.  The Sunday morning speaker shared how all of us need to use our time, talent and resources to further the Kingdom of God.  I really believe that message was directed right at me since the Leverage Ministries mission statement states that, “Our mission is to enable individuals to leverage their time, talents and resources in order to reach people, both locally and globally, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” 

As I sat there on Sunday morning, I felt confident that we are doing exactly what God wants us to do: reach the abused, abandoned and arrested teens of Central Florida.  

But even as we trust God, we are encouraged to pray for our needs. So I ask that you please continue to pray for our finances and that we would trust God to provide in His time and in His way. Also, please pray for the different funding avenues that we are developing: catering opportunities for Joe Bear’s Barbecue, golfers and sponsors for our upcoming golf tournament and individuals to join the Dean Johnson Legacy Team. 

Pray that God would use each of these funds, as well as our generous supporters and donors, to grow His ministry so that we can continue to reach hurting youth.

In His Service,

Scott