LAUNCH Newsletter

Issue 17 | Fall 2014 what’s inside MEET SOME LAUNCHees LAUNCHee LEADERSHIP RETREAT LEADERSHIP COURSE NEW “HEARING GOD” WORKSHOP 321LAUNCH.ca

Meet Some LAUNCHees SHOOLIE: ‘Blue Lips’ Poetry Book With help from his coach Randall, Shoolie has produced a book of poetry called ‘Blue Lips’ and is currently running a spoken word workshop to help young people in his community learn to express themselves as they face life’s challenges. ELISE & OLIVIA: Water The Earth With Love With help from their coach Monica, Elise & Olivia have been organizing multiple fundraising events to reach their goal of building a well in Africa and providing clean water to people in need. They also hope to inspire other youth to make a difference. PATRICK: Anti-Rape Culture With help from his coach William, Patrick is raising awareness in youth about the dangers of pornography and the current issue of rape culture in our society.2 :: LAUNCH News

LLeAaUdNerCshHipeReetreat Lee Sommerfeldt Coaching CoordinatorThis past spring, the LAUNCH team had the pleasure of taking 9 LAUNCHees to The Leadership Studio at Muskoka Woods for a2-day retreat. The Leadership Studio is a beautiful space designed tomodel leadership, inspire creativity and birth innovative thinking. Itwas the perfect atmosphere for our LAUNCHees as they learned, werechallenged and motivated!The focus of the retreat was Communication and LAUNCH staff sharedabout its importance in terms of leadership. LAUNCHees learned howcrucial communication is with team members and how it’s even moreessential with God. The weekend was divided into 3 sessions; HearingGod, Responding to God and an exercise exploring communication inteamwork.The young people loved the facility and the opportunity to spendtime with LAUNCH staff and other LAUNCHees. Friday night was ahighlight for many of the students, when LAUNCH staff shared personalstories of hearing from God. These stories, coupled with Saturday’steaching on communicating with God, challenged many of the studentsto be open to similar experiences in their own lives. We look forward toreturning next spring! LAUNCH News :: 3

Leadership Course Diana Skinner Instructional LeaderWe are thrilled to be running our first year of the Grade 11 Leadership and Peer Support course through LAUNCH! Our accreditationpartner is Cornerstone Montessori Prep School, a private Christian school indowntown Toronto. Thanks to the generosity of the Stronger Together Grant,as well as individual donors, students were able to receive tuition scholarshipspreventing any barriers in their course attendance.For our inaugural year we have six registered students. All are excited togrow in their leadership abilities as they work towards positively impactingtheir communities. So far we have been working on Unit One: Who Am I AsA Leader?, where students employ a variety of self-reflection activities andleadership assessments to discover how God has uniquely created them. Theyare beginning to see how these gifts and talents can connect with the needs inthe world around them.Our next in-class instructional day will help the students take their self-reflection learning a step further. They’ll be working towards the creationof a Personal Growth Plan (focusing on character, leadership and spiritualdevelopment) and a Project Strategic Plan. The Project Strategic Plan will bethe frame through which they launch a community impact idea. Each studenthas also been matched with a Coach who will meet with them once a monthto provide support and encouragement.Please join us in praying for this course! That it would be led by God, thatstudents would grow in their leadership skills and Godly character, and thatby living out what they’ve learned - they would positively impact our world!4 :: LAUNCH News

Know a studentwho wants to earn a credit while impacting their community? Contact us! LAUNCH News :: 5

Group InteractionsOur goal, through Group Monica at Camp Mini-Yo-We Interactions, is to raise up young speaking on Teamworkleaders, challenge them spirituallyand help them understand God’s William facilitating our Followingdesire to meet the needs of others Jesus workshop at Today’s Teensthrough their efforts. ConferenceWhen we designed our GroupInteractions, we hoped that theywould be a resource for the Christiancommunity. We are pleased to sharethat this is happening as we minister toand reach many young people in theGTA.Working with schools, camps,conferences and church youth groups,we’ve been able to establish ahandful of ongoing leadership trainingpartnerships. We love helping theseyouth find ways to make a differencein their local communities. By doingso, they are meeting real needs andare given many opportunities to shareJesus with those around them. William Raposo Associate Director Anne teaching about community needs during the LAUNCH Pilot Leadership Course6 :: LAUNCH News

This past May, I had the privilege of facilitating a newly created workshop called Hearing God.The outline of the workshop is; a) God speaks therefore it IS possibleto hear Him, b) Some of His communication is unique to who youare, c) Biblical examples of God communicating, and d) Evidence:How you know it is Him.As part of the workshop,I presented findings froma survey I had done of100 Christians (men andwomen of varying agesand church backgrounds)having asked them the question: “How do you hear God?”Many thanks to those who were able to participate! It wasincredibly encouraging to hear respondents’ perspectives andsurprising to discover that (of those who responded) they reportedhearing God through 4 different ways, on average.So what were the top 4 ways, you ask? 1) Hearing God throughreading the Bible or having a verse come to mind, 2) Hearing Godthrough others 3) Hearing God through quiet listening/ prayertime 4) Hearing God through a strong feeling/ knowing. Verrrrrryinteresting! Anne Fleetwood Leadership Facilitator & Marketing StrategistInttoWeCrlaamoeancnintttdiaioLscAantrtUyGau?Nstr!oyCouHpur LAUNCH News :: 7

LAUNCH TeamUpdates Monica Kay DirectorJust over a year ago, Carl Nash (LAUNCH founder; now Youth Unlimited Ministry Director) passed on to me the leadership baton of the LAUNCHprogram. Becoming the LAUNCH Director has been a great adventure! AsI look back, I can see clearly how God brought me to this role and I amthoroughly enjoying the challenge.One of my greatest delights is working with the LAUNCH team, discerningand living out our core values, and seeing lives transformed. Through prayer,the Lord has led us in some exciting new steps and we have observed bothLAUNCHees and our team embracing their unique God-given potential indeeper ways. We look forward to watching many more young leaders growand develop through our newly accredited course and workshops. We are thrilled to have Lee Sommerfeldt join our team as our new Coaching Coordinator. Lee will be managing the partnerships between LAUNCHees and Coaches, caring for each of them as they participate in LAUNCH. Welcome Lee!Another welcome is to baby Grace Raposo - born on July14, 2014! Our Associate Director William, wife Cristina andtheir children Abigail and Logan are thrilled with the newestaddition to their family.We are thankful for all that the Lord has done and is doingthrough LAUNCH and our team. Thank you for your care and support.LAUNCH COMES ALONGSIDE YOUNG CHRISTIANS, INSPIRING THEMTO WALK LONG-TERM IN THEIR GOD-GIVEN POTENTIAL BY EQUIPPING THEM TO GROW SPIRITUALLY, IN CHARACTER AND IN LEADERSHIP. LAUNCH is a program of Youth Unlimited 57 Mobile Drive Toronto, ON M4A 1H5 e. [email protected] w. 321LAUNCH.ca