You have been sent this Newsletter because you are very special to our ministry with young people in Whangarei and in Northland.
Firstly I would like to thank God for the way He has blessed Renate & I in this ministry with YFC. I have got a story to tell you.
We sometimes apply for grants from various community organizations, sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are turned down. Well for Rock Solid we had two good years of getting funding for the leaders training and office expenses. And felt pretty confident about getting it again. The letter came and we got a shock when they turned us down. Thinking it was all over I turned to God thinking, why us? Why do some sports clubs etc get funding & not us? He told my very simply to "Trust Me" God knows having a name like Youth for Christ makes it tough to get funding in a day & age like this. At times we have been tempted to change our name. But God said to trust in Him. So I did. We prayed about how we were going to operate in 2000 with no funding.
Well firstly we had been asked to fundraise at the Guy Fawkes in Whangarei so we did and made $700. We thanked God and thought this was awesome. Then at Rock Solid Club we were looking at death and the life of Jesus, we visited the grave yard, had different exercises for the children to do and went back to our club rooms. Finished the night with a wrap up (devotions) and while packing up one of the children brought me an envelope, thinking that it was a permission slip for a trip I opened it up to find a $900 cheque !! $450 for Rock Solid and $450 for Renate & I. God reminded me I can't do it in my own strength, my strength must come from God Himself.
I thought that this story would be worth sharing with you, because a lot of people do worry how we survive & stay sane.
God had to remind me that I am to put my total trust in Him. Please keep on praying for Renate & I as your prayers are helping us so much.
Whenever I walk around Whangarei, I always hear "Scottie" called out from all over the place. Sometimes I like to escape somewhere where nobody knows me, like Taupo where I recently videoed a wedding, went to McDonalds and one of the checkout operators knew me from a camp. Went to a church for the afternoon tea and bumped into a child that went to Kamo Intermediate this year. He came up to me and said "You're Scottie from Rock Solid aren't you? I said yes but how do you know me. He said "you came to our school but I moved down here".
So thankyou very much for being a part of what I am doing around Whangarei, Northland and New Zealand.
Keep an eye out for my next newsletter before Christmas. It will be a biggy.
Another thank you for being part of our team in reaching young people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Please keep us in your prayers as we really do appreciate them.
God bless you,
Scottie and Renate Slykerman
Youth for Christ Northland
P.S. If you would like to drop us a personal note, address it to:
Scott and Renate Slykerman
28 Mair Street
Whangarei
