: Young Life Comes To Loudoun County, Virginia

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1 YOUNG LIFE WE LOUDOUN COUNTY STE RN YOU LOUD OUN P,O NG LI FE B Lee sbu ox 619 rg, 5 VA TEL 201 E 75 (703 PHON E ) F AC 5 (703 SIMILE ) A Brief History 1989: Young Life Comes To Loudoun County, Virginia This written history is a work in progress and is currently incomplete. Over time it will become more refined and enriched with additional comments from past YL staff, as well as additional photos. Please continue to check back for updates. LOUDOUN VALLEY FIRST WITH YOUNG LIFE CLUB FIRST COMMITTEE SETS THE GROUNDWORK They started meeting in the spring of Dan & Ruth Smith brought together a handful of couples, all with kids at, to lay the groundwork for Loudoun County s first Young Life club. There was definitely a need for an effective, fun youth ministry in the county, and the Loudoun Valley community seemed like the idea spot for a startup Young Life club. Really what it takes to get Young Life going in a school is for there to be a group of adults and parents to come together and plant that seed, says Dan. We were fortunate to have a number of these adults who loved the Lord, loved kids, and wanted a ministry like Young Life not only for their own kids, but really for all the kids in their community. Ethel Burwell & Ryan Holiday at Lake Champion (1991) Katherine Smith and Sean Welsh at hoedown St. Peter s Episcopal Church in Purcellville played an important role in getting Young Life started in Loudoun. They were in need of a youth minister, so an arrangement was made to hire a person to fill that role part time and to do Young Life part time. The budget that first year was $12,000, remembers Dan. St. Peter s probably contributed about half of that amount. While St. Peter s was interested in Those early years of Young Life at Valley were a riot. Lots of kids, lots of fun, lots of memories. Sam Branham

2 HISTORY OF LOUDOUN YOUNG LIFE! PAGE 2 Barb, Sam, Michelle, Denny & Natalie Lori Steele Connor Matt Hall FIRST COMMITTEE SETS THE GROUNDWORK (CONTINUED) developing their own youth ministry, they were clear in their desire to see Youth Life grow and succeed in Loudoun. Ethel Burwell was the first YL club leader at, arriving in the fall of With the help of Kevin and Laura Hale as leaders, a small group of kids gradually warmed up to Campaigners and eventually club started. During the summers of 1990 and 1991, about 30 kids went to Lake Champion for their first YL camp experience. SAM BRANHAM ARRIVES IN 1991 After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1991 and spending the summer as camp cook at Lake Champion, Sam Branham followed Ethel as an intern at Valley. Sam quickly built a large following of kids, and club at Valley took off with great popularity. When Sam started his work at, one of the first people he connected with was senior T.C. Johnstone. T.C. liked YL, says Sam; but he liked to party as well. He was popular with the athletes, the party types, the student government types. I decided my first year was going to be all about building a friendship with T.C.. Through T.C. and his network of friends, club on Wednesday nights started to get packed. I m sure some of the kids came drunk, high or both says Sam. I loved it. This was the crowd that needed to know that God loved them just the way they were, and wanted to have a relationship with them. While club was thriving and kids were having fun, Campaigners and kids craving something more were probably feeling a bit neglected. Sam continues, I couldn t do it all on my own. I needed help.. so I got married. With the addition of Barb, Sam s new wife, along with Natalie Koch and Denny and Michelle Bellinger as leaders, club was commonly drawing kids every week. Some weeks there would be 150, some there would be 12 remembers Sam. Some mornings 2 kids would show up for Campaigners, some weeks there would be 75 kids there. Up to 50 kids from Loudoun Valley were going to camp every summer. Continued on Page 3 I m sure some kids came drunk, high or both. I loved it. This was the crowd that needed to know that God loved them just the way they were, and wanted to have a relationship with them. Sam Branham

3 HISTORY OF LOUDOUN YOUNG LIFE! PAGE 3 Young Life Expands Into Leesburg And Points East Young Life leaders see themselves as missionaries. I love that about Young Life. Matt Hall Pretty soon other school communities were wanting Young Life in their area as well. LOUDOUN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL CLUB In 1994 Sam Hutchison ( 87) came on as an intern at Loudoun County High School. A graduate of County and Penn State, Sam Hutchison set the groundwork for ministry in Leesburg. With help of Matt Hall and his wife Stephanie, along with Stephanie s sister Suzanne, Young Life was now at half of the four schools in the county. After Sam Hutchison s internship ended, Matt Hall stepped in as the Young Life intern at County in Matt and his wife Stephanie were both County graduates (1987), and both carried a sacrificial heart for kids. Matt had an uncanny ability to remember names and easily developed relationships with a bunch of key guys and girls. We had a core group of great kids, remembers Matt. These were all kids that were well established in school. Without them we could not have brought in the more hardcore kids. Matt particularly had a great relationship with guys at County, the kind of guys you wouldn t expect to find at church on Sunday, which is exactly what attracted Matt to Young Life in the first place. Young Life meets kids on their own turf and in their own way, says Matt. Instead of asking kids to come to them, Young Life leaders go to where the kids are. They coach sports, play X-Box games, and just hang out with them. Young Life leaders see themselves as missionaries. I love that about Young Life. Matt also remembers being blown away at camp. The camping experience as a volunteer was huge, says Matt. I remember thinking that I could see myself spending my life going to camp and leading kids to the Lord. The excellence displayed at camp was amazing. Loudoun County students and leaders at Lake Saranac Matt was bolstered by the help of Kevin Hale and Erick and Kimberly Poole. Young Life at Loudoun County High School was growing, kids were hearing about Christ, and many were turning to the Young Life leaders during rough personal times in their lives. The relationships were genuine and deep, a signal that Young Life leaders were effectively connecting with the kids with whom they had invested a tremendous amount of time and personal sacrifice. With clubs and campaigners going strong at both Loudoun Valley and Loudoun County, there was a growing interest for Young Life in the eastern end of the county.

4 HISTORY OF LOUDOUN YOUNG LIFE! PAGE 4 THIS WRITTEN HISTORY IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND WILL BE UPDATED OVER TIME. PLEASE CHECK BACK AS WE ADD MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COUNTY, BROAD RUN, POTOMAC FALLS, AND STONE BRIDGE. Broad Run students at Lake Champion

5 Dan Smith, YOUNG LIFE WESTERN LOUDOUN HISTORY s, s, Staff & s Ethel Burwell Sam Branham Sam Hutchison Greg Troxell Liz Simmons, Dan Smith, No Natalie Koch, Craig Hollenbach, T.C. Johnstone Denny Bellinger Ryan Phillips Erin Hatcher, Staff Matt Hall, Staff * Volunteer Lead Todd Erickson Greg Speier Beth Maskey debutts Staff Heritage Toby Rouse Geoff Howard Lori Steele Connor Staff, PFHS Associate Area Director Kristina Grooms Dorrough PFHS Laurie Kushin PFHS Jacque Moore Beth Maskey Tom Rockwood AD, Eastern Eastern Loudoun / Western Loudoun Split into Two Areas * Kevin Hale, Erick & Kimberly Poole, Kurt & Jennifer Seekford, Rodney & Christy Grey, Bob Updegrove