"You were made for this", the main slogan for Young Life, but what is it that we were really made for? You see, slogans and catch phrases are cool and all but i wish that i knew what it truly meant. In my 8th grade year I went to my first Young Life camp and it was amazing! I have never been to club previously or anything like that so I was fresh into Young Life when i started at camp. The interesting part is, is that, I was already a believer when I started so learning about Jesus and all that was nothing new to me so i just enjoyed the camp itself. Something funny actually happened though as we did our cabin time. I called out my leader on some false theology that he was trying to speak on and he didn't like it very much. He also judged me very harshly about some things that i had said at camp (like he forgot that i was only in 8th grade). I really thought nothing of it so i moved on. After I moved back with my dad in the beginning of my freshmen year, i was so zealous about Young life. My dad was aware of this and went out of his way to find a Young Life leader for me in our area. Gee, I was so pumped to meet this man and begin my real journey into Young Life. I started attending club on a weekly basis and a lot of the people at club weren't what i expected. They were talking about smoking and drinking, they were swearing a lot and to me, it didn't seem like they even knew Jesus. I saw and heard this kind of behavior because I wasn't very informed on what YL was actually about. The point of YL is to reach the ones who don't know Jesus. That right there automatically made me feel like i was in the wrong place, and my my was i right. I continued to attend club in this area to only still be constantly ignored and not made apart of anything and this made me feel lonely and like an outcast. Because of this, i just chose to grow really close to my leader. He was always so pumped up and happy and willing to be there and talk and the whole 9 yards which is what i needed. I told him everything about myself and let him deeply into my heart and life; i thought i had a brother in this guy. I switched schools in the second half of my freshmen year but still continued to go that area club, hoping that maybe if they get to know me more, i'll fit in better. Wrong. Even at camp, i still didn't get a place in with them. So i just stopped going to that area club around the end of 11th grade, I was done. Leaving that area club started to deteriorate my relationship with my leader. He wasn't really keeping his word much anymore and he actually moved back to Oregon. I tried to call him often and he would never answer. He would call me at the worst times and he would say he would call back but he never did. I am not one who cries easily, but I cried when this guy left, he was extremely important to me, and he just dissed me without a care. So i gave up on him. My 11th grade year i tried my areas club. I hated it SO much. Most of the kids who I didn't even like went there. Basically all of the "popular" kids were there. I really tried getting close with the leaders, but they were very fake and made me feel like I was "too christian" for them to even put time into so they basically didn't even bother building a relationship with me. This is where i really began to question my place in Young Life. I still continued to get the cold shoulder from the leaders and my peers even at a different area club. So, i thought maybe I am "too christian" to be YL kid so I will lead. That was a mistake. Most of the people that i lead with didn't even really bother talking much to me or trying to get to know me. Also, I truly saw the motives of YL leaders. Here it is: try to make as many kids as you can like you as much as possible, without really trying to get personal with them to reach a certain number of kids to go to club and go to camp. Then once they "convert", forget about them and find a new batch of kids. I literally saw this as a leader, and even outside of being a leader, i personally experienced this. I read this article where this guy said Young Life leaders like to use a tactic called "love bombing" which is basically loving kids to death to try to get them to club and camp. It's not genuine at all. I saw this and it made me angry. (http://christianagnostic.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/is-young-life-a-cult/) thats the article.
Basically, I gave up on Young life at that point because i couldn't take being ignored and treated like i was a nobody. I also didn't want to turn fake and not show the real love of Christ just so i can get some numbers. I have MANY numbers of stories from people who have experienced this same exact thing as I have and they too quit Young Life because of it. Now don't get me wrong, many people have met Jesus through YL and that's great, but after that, all the people care is about is more of Young Life rather than solely on Jesus. So my warning is, if you are considering Young Life or are in Young Life, think about what I said here. I am not the only one. All my friends in Young Life are going to be very upset about this, but frankly, I don't care. This has to be said because I don't want people going through the same stuff I have. That is why i quit YL
So Thank You for not reading this and I hope your night is blessed
Franky
