Hello everyone! 

For those of you who were able to make it last night, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING!! And, for those of you who weren’t able to make it, know that we are grateful for you and would still love to further invite you into the mission of Young Life in Plano. Last night, we got to celebrate the past 16 years of Young Life in Plano, share it’s history, and cast a vision for what the next 16 years could look like. 

Young Life in Plano first originated with staff in the central cluster and then grew to the east and then to the west. Today, Young Life is currently in 5 high schools with 1 full time and 1 part-time staff person and WyldLife is in 1 middle school with 1 part time staff. I am the staff person on the West Side at Shepton, Jasper, and Plano West. Jose Padilla and Alyx Scarborough are our part-time staff folks running Young Life and WyldLife on the East side. Our hope, though, isn’t for Young Life to just remain where it is right now. Our hope is to reach more kids at every middle and high school campus across Plano. Our hope is to also specifically reach our middle and high school friends with disabilities through a ministry called Capernaum and our friends who are teen moms through Young Lives. We believe Young Life Plano has barely scratched the surface of what is to come.

With the funding to hire more staff, our NEXT STEPS would be:

• to grow our ministry in Young Life and WyldLife on the east side by transitioning our part-time staff to full-time staff to get into more middle schools and high schools in East Plano
• to start wyldlife on the west side by hiring a full-time wyldlife staff 
• to start Wyldlife and then Young Life in the Senior High Cluster 

Our immediate next steps would be to hire two full time staff: one for East Plano and one for West Plano.

After a year where we’ve doubled the number of kids that have gone to camp, consistently had kids attending Club, and had committed, amazing Young Life leaders and Committee, there is a very present need for more involvement in our mission. The students of Plano need to hear that Jesus is here to save them and that he sees them; that they aren’t just lost in the numbers of the 30,000 students that make up the city of Plano, but he knows them and calls them by name. We don’t want to miss the opportunity to share this good news with our middle and high school friends. 

Will you join in mission with us? Will you be volunteer leader, or join our committee, or financially give? If you are interested, please email me at lindsay.hedlund@gmail.com and I would love to talk with you more about it.

​We hope you have a GREAT week! 
- Your Plano Young Life Staff

This year, Plano Young Life:
- DOUBLED the number of campers who got to experience summer camp at Frontier Ranch 
- Hired two part-time staff for Young Life and Wyldlife on the East Side
- Witnessed over 30 students gave their lives to Jesus over the summer ​

Hello all! My name is Alyx Scarborough and I am the new Part-Time staff for Wyldlife in Plano. You may have seen me around the past 4 years as a volunteer leader for Wyldlife as well as East Plano Young Life and I am so excited to officially be a part of our staff team!
​
I grew up in Carrollton, TX with my parents and older sister and graduated from Hebron High School in 2014. After high school, I began attending Collin College and am now attending Texas Woman's University seeking a degree in child development. Growing up, my family and I attended church every week and we were very active in my church’s youth group. During this time, I had never heard of Young Life or had the opportunity to attend myself. However, that all changed in the fall of 2015 during my sophomore year of college when I was asked to volunteer for Wyldlife in East Plano. I walked in to the first club not knowing what it was or what to expect, all I was told was that the games we played were weird and crazy, but the kids loved them! It only took one club for me to fall in love with the mission and  with the kids. Since then, Young Life and Wyldlife have been a major part of my life. I have enjoyed building relationships with my high school and middle school friends, as well as getting to lead with the most amazing group of people. 

Looking back to when I first stepped into the club room, I couldn't imagine myself being on staff or even the amazing impact Young Life would have on my life and today I am so grateful. Over the past four years, I have had the opportunity to see Plano Young Life change the lives of middle and high school students, and mine as well. I look forward to the future of Plano Young Life, building more intentional relationships, and watching students come to know and love Jesus. Middle school and high school is such a busy and confusing time for kids. They will make many decisions that will have life long impacts. There is one decision that I hope to witness them make that is the most important, and that is to follow the Lord. 

P.S.- This past weekend we got to have our first Wyldlife Club of the semester! I loved seeing kids that went to camp, kids that came last year and new faces all show up to Club on Saturday night. It was amazing to see these middle school kids sit and listen eagerly about who Jesus is.  We meet on the following Saturdays at Plano Bible Chapel. All middle school kids are welcome- we'd love to see you there! 

September 21st
October 5th
October 19th
November 2nd
November 16th
December 14th

Hello everyone, 
My name is Jose Padilla I am from Las Cruces, New Mexico. I have lived in Plano for 10 years with my wife, Debbie. We have two girls, Daijah and Delilah. I am a stay at home dad and I am on part-time staff with Plano Young Life, specifically Young Life on the East side.

I got involved with YL about 2 years ago through being involved in the student ministry at my church. The director of the student ministry was a YL guy and he introduced me to Plano YL. From my very first experience with Young Life, I gotta tell you: there was nothing like this where I grew up or I just never payed attention.  Once I knew what YL was and how the ministry impacted the community, I was all in and wanted to help out how ever I could.

The best thing about YL is I get to seek out the kids who are running from God and running to what this world has to offer. When I was in middle school, I was one of those kids who ran. I know the pain that these kids carry and get to let them know they are not alone, that I was there once, and that I found where true joy is: in Christ. To be able to help kids change the way they think and see light out of the darkness of this world makes all the pain I went through as kid worth it. It is a privilege to be able to share with these kids that there is way more to life than what is in front of them, to share the gospel with them, and to share with them how God worked in my life. I know that He can change their life, too.