Where else would a person look for Jesus than a fake Bavarian village with a goat farm in the middle of town? I say fake because, as far as I could tell, no Bavarians live in Leavenworth. I say goat farm because, well, there’s a goat farm in town. Sadly, the goats were bunked up for the winter, so we were forced to admire murals of goats on the sides of the fake Bavarian buildings. Despite the unfortunate lack of real, live goats, Proxy did find Jesus in Leavenworth.

Last weekend, around 50 high school students and 20 adult leaders from every Mars Hill campus got together to worship Jesus in road tripping, rock banding, movie watching, Bible reading, snowboarding, coffee drinking, taffy eating, snow tubing, picture taking, pool swimming, and constant conversating (I know it’s not a word, but did you catch the meter!?) Oh, and we also studied the entire Bible. What did you do last weekend?

The theme of the weekend was “Storyline.” Over the span of four teaching sessions, Deacon Andrew Pack walked us through the entire Bible, showing us how Jesus and the gospel are the central theme, or storyline, of it all. A special thanks goes out to Jesus for giving Andrew the wisdom and knowledge to be able to do that!

During the last night’s session, we played a game called Family Feud, designed by Proxy West Seattle director, Alan Anderson. Don’t be confused by the name, though. Mr. Anderson is no Richard Dawson. In this version, the students were polled concerning how they would describe their leaders. The result was that Alan was called “white” (agreed) and “unpredictable” (agreed), Mike Johnson, who works with teens in Ballard, was described as being an “Eagle Scout” (correct) and “ripped out of his mind” (obviously), Dustin Nickerson, Eastside Proxy director, was referred to as “motherly” (yikes) and “rules” (yes, sir), and I was described as “a laughing, old school, Mexican eater.” I’d like to take this opportunity to bring clarity to said title. I do enjoy laughing. However, I am neither old nor in school. Finally, I am a joyful connoisseur of tacos, enchiladas, and burritos of all kinds. Perhaps it is more appropriate to call me a Mexican food eater…

The best part of the weekend was undoubtedly watching Jesus work in the hearts of those who attended. Jesus graciously allowed many of the leaders to talk to students about life, enjoy their company, and pray with them. In the same way that I am completely unworthy to be loved and accepted by God, I am equally unworthy of the privilege of watching and even being involved in Jesus’ changing students’ hearts. Jesus was most certainly at work last weekend, and, for that, we are very thankful and feel tremendously blessed.

If you’d like to see more pictures from the trip to Leavenworth, go here.

If you are interested in working with the junior high or high school students of Mars Hill, please email your respective campus Mars Hill Youth director: shorelineyouth@marshillchurch.org, ballardyouth@marshillchurch.org, eastsideyouth@marshillchurch.org, westseattleyouth@marshillchurch.org, wedgwoodyouth@marshillchurch.org

- Reagan North