Young Life celebrates a decade in Baker

Alyssa Griffin, 13, eats squeeze cheese in a game of “Cheese-ionary”at WyldLife, a ministry for middle school students that is associated with Young Life. Holding the plate is Christian Calder, 14. Observing is Stephanie Soliz, 13, back right, and adult leader Becky Black. (Baker City Herald/Lisa Britton)

Again and again.

Suddenly her hands shoot in the air and she hollers in triumph to be the first one to finish her packet in this game.

Then she runs to the bathroom to scrub off the stains.

“I look like the Loch Ness monster!” she yells when she sees her reflection of green teeth.

“How do you know? Have you ever seen the Loch Ness monster?” Mike Long asks with a grin.

This crazy game is just part of the fun at this club meeting of Young Life, a ministry designed for high schoolers.

It’s organized chaos, the leaders assure, as the music blasts and the room rings with singing and laughter.

The craziness is reined in, slightly, when the adult leaders bring the youth together to sing “Sweet Home Alabama” — which means Beth Shirtcliff starts dancing and shouting to get the kids all riled up again.

2010 is the 10th year of Young Life in Baker City — a milestone the group will celebrate at its annual fundraising auction and dessert banquet on Friday, March 12.

Since this is the 10th anniversary, present and past leaders will revive the skits they’ve performed over the years — a “Best of Young Life” presentation.

For information about the event, call 541-523-9320 or 541-523-0661, or visit the Web site: bakercity.younglife.org.

Baker City Young Life

The local club started when Eric and Kristy Sandefur moved to town.

“We basically formed a committee and started praying about it,” Eric Sandefur said.

He participated in Young Life as a teenager in Colorado, and then served as a leader when he was in college.

All told, he’s dedicated 18 years to Young Life.

Young Life’s beginning was in 1938 when Jim Rayburn, a young Presbyterian seminary student in Texas, was challenged to connect with the high schoolers who had no interest in church.

He started a weekly club with singing,  skits and a simple message about Jesus Christ. According the Web site www.younglife.org, club attendance increased dramatically when they started meeting in the homes of the young people.

Young Life was officially founded on Oct. 16, 1941. By 1946, the outreach ministry had moved to a new headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the staff had grown to 20 men and women across several states.

Today Young Life is international and has 19,000 volunteers and more than 3,300 staff. Mike Long is the area director for Eastern Oregon.

The idea behind Young Life is to connect with teenagers in the place they are most comfortable — and that’s not necessarily inside church walls.

“We got to them, we go into their world,” says Barbara Stiff, an adult leader.

Leaders play popular music at club meetings, and during the week they cheer on the kids in sports and other events, and also meet for morning Bible studies or lunch.

The goal is to establish meaningful relationships.

“We don’t just have a relationship, we teach them what that means,” says Kristy Sandefur.

The Sandefurs also lead WyldLife, which is for middle school kids and meets Tuesday nights.

The approach is about the same, but activities are more group-oriented.

“The mentality for junior high is a herd mentality,” Kristy Sandefur said.

But the games are no less crazy.

At this week’s club, the group split into two teams — girls versus boys — for something Kristy calls “Cheese-ionary.” It’s like Pictionary, where someone draws a clue until their team guesses the image. This version uses soft squeeze cheese, and the one who identifies the picture must then lick the cheese off the plate.

After an initial “ewww” factor, the kids got caught up in the game and fought for the right to taste the cheese.

At both Young Life and Wyldlife, the gatherings end in a more solemn tone, with a few hymns and a talk by one of the leaders.

Young Life and WyldLife meet every week during the school year at the clubhouse, located between Tenth Street and the railroad tracks just north of Broadway.

Summer is camp time at the Washington Family Ranch near Antelope, on the property once known as religious compound Rajneeshpuram. This is one of 25 Young Life camps in the United States and Canada.

“It’s like a five-star resort,” Eric Sandefur said.

The Ranch can accommodate nearly 700 campers each week and offers such activities as climbing walls, frisbee golf, a ropes course, a pool, zip lines, a skate park and more.

The leaders bunk with their kids and share meals — three times a day, served family style at a round table — with their kids to foster stronger friendships.

And, of course, leaders share the message of Jesus.

“Most kids come away and say ‘it’s the best week of my life,’” Eric Sandefur said.

All this work with the kids affect the adults, too.

“It’s been life-changing,” Stiff said. “It’s a place of refreshment and renewal.”