For Him and Them by Dean Cowles, YPN President

A monthly message from YouthPartnersNET President Dean Cowles.

For Him and Them by Dean Cowles

April 2006

We experienced "March Madness" before the rest of you all did.

From March 13-16 the "Final 24" gathered from all over the country in Denver to attend the Christian Management Association Annual Leadership and Management Conference. As we reported to you earlier, this great opportunity came about when CMA contacted us and wanted to bless some of our partners with a full $829 scholarship plus a $399 CMA Premier Membership. The total value to our ministry partners was over $32,000!

CMA

These things just don't happen out of thin air. Your faithful support allows us to make these kinds of connections year round and grow these national networks. In particular, your recent gift helped us provide free hotel rooms for our partners arriving from out of state. As one urban camp director from New York told me, "Dean, we could not have afforded to come even with the free scholarships without YPN's help on the hotel rooms." His sentiment was echoed by many others.

One of the highlights for me was to see our partners sit down to a wonderful lunch and meet the CMA donors who sponsored them. They got to tell their stories and share their hearts. Many of these donors shared business cards and want to follow up on the relationships established.

Here are some of the comments our ministry partners wrote which I thought you'd like to see. These are the real underdogs and Cinderella stories on the front line saving urban and Native American kids.

Thank you so much for your generosity! This conference has been so worth it. There is no question that this conference will greatly enhance the effectiveness of our ministry. I have so many notes, so many action points. I am inspired to lay down my life for the high calling!

Phil Herschberger
Camp Andrews
Holtwood, PA

What an enormous privilege it was for me to participate in the CMA Conference last week. I left feeling inspired and encouraged personally, and this will no doubt affect the work I am doing at Rehoboth Christian School. The strategies I learned during the conference will help me expand our ministry to Native Americans in the Four Corners area. CMA can be confident the fruit they provided in the form of these scholarships is being multiplied all over the USA to help ministries better serve our Lord.

Alan Pearson
Rehoboth Christian School
Rehoboth, NM

Without this scholarship I would not have been able to network with other great ministries, be equipped with great tools from workshops, and challenged by several keynote speakers. I am implementing several things I took from the conference to empower our team and ministry to be more effective. Thanks again for allowing many urban ministries to be a part of this conference.

Brad Bryan
City Impact
Lincoln, NE

This was a wonderful opportunity to network and hear of resources that are not brought to the urban ministries due to cost. The exhibitors were very information filled and most were willing to adapt and help us out. Thanks for the new resources!

Kris Styf
Sun Valley Youth Center
Denver, CO

I believe this is a significant benefit for urban ministries since we are often 'grassroots' organizations whose strength is in ministry more than administration. The conference was a tremendous experience and our organization is very grateful.

Sheri Bedsole
Clubs in the City
Raleigh, NC

Thank you so much. I really needed to get away from the office to collect my thoughts and learn from others. I believe I was starting to get burnt out and very angry with doing ministry. I now feel refreshed, equipped and ready to go back to the front lines. Thanks for inviting me to CMA.

Ray Banks
Restoration Ministries Inc.
Harvey, IL

Thank you for providing this experience. It will result in positive changes that will make a difference in the lives of youth in Kansas City

Greg Atkinson
Northeast Kansas City Youth Services
Kansas City, MO

For Him and Them,

Dean Cowles

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