Youth Venture [teen centers]

When I was 13-years-old my friend, Michael, told me about Youth Venture. He went to the YV on Broadway in El Cajon and the After School Bible Club at Cajon Valley Middle School. I started going to Youth Venture with Michael whenever my mom would let me.

Eventually I started going through Youth Venture’s mentoring program. I learned about God and who Jesus was and that God had a plan for me! I had never heard anything like this before.

I never knew my dad. My mom – who is a cool lady – raised me. The only father I knew was my step-dad who was a drug addict. Eventually my mom left him so there was no father in my life. Suddeenly I was hearing that God knew me and cared about me and even had a plan especially for me – available through Jesus Christ. By the end of the third lesson when my Youth Venture mentor asked, “Do you want to invite Christ into your life?” I said, “Yes!”

At first I didn’t have a strong commitment. I didn’t go to Youth Venture very often and when I did it was just to have fun. But in my freshman year of high school I started going back regularly and I attended church for the first time. I went to Foothills Christian Church and heard Pastor Mark Hoffman give a message about fathers.

The message made me realize that not having a father had a great affect on me. I grew up afraid of making mistakes and afraid of what people thought of me. I was so unsure of myself that I had a very hard time making friends. I realized if I continued to live the way I was I would never become the father I wanted to be – the father I didn’t have! I needed to change.

I began taking the lessons again at Youth Venture and this time I completed all of them. Danny, teh director of Youth Venture, worked through the lessons with me. He explained things and gave me great advice. I was able to talk to him about really personal things – things no one else in my life had ever talked with me about.

Today I am so different. I don’t live in fear or what people might think of me and of making mistakes. I lead a high school small group with Danny and a junior high group with one of the other Youth Venture leaders. And, I have been a junior staff member at Youth Venture for two years. I’m even student body president at Foothills Christian High School where I am a senior. YV has changed my life in many ways, and it provides an opportunity for me to give back and serve others who are like I used to be.