high school administration, have
welcomed the group enthusiastically.
“
We have been affirmed,
energized and blown away by
the results of our meager efforts,”
Jacobsen says.
Not that the journey hasn’t had
its challenges. In spring 2012,
with fundraising steady but
slow, the committee faced
a critical decision: proceed
with plans to hire a Young
Life leader who would begin
in the fall – trusting that
the funding to support him
would be in place - or wait
another year until more
funding – and awareness –
was raised. After a good bit
of discussion and no small
amount of prayer, members
decided to take a step of faith
and hire a leader.
Enter Isaac Nagle.
Just a month after graduating
from Virginia Tech, Nagle, who had
originally planned to be a teacher
but felt called during his senior year
to go full time with Young Life,
learned he would be coming to
Franklin County.
“
I had wanted to come to
Franklin County, but I didn’t think
it would happen,” says Nagle. “It’s
not often a new leader goes into a
new area.”
Schmitt, who has known Nagle
for several years, and worked
with him training Tech students
to become Young Life leaders at
local high schools in the NRV,
was confident he was ready for the
challenge.
“
His walk of faith with Christ is
so genuine,” Schmitt says. “And the
fact that his life was turned around
in high school… he has a heart for
those kids.”
Nagle relates that he was
introduced to Young Life as a
freshman at Christiansburg High
School, where his initial resistance
crumbled when a “cool senior
guy” offered to drive him to a club
gathering.
“
After that first club, I was
hooked,” he says.
He was active in Young Life
throughout high school, but as
often happens, Nagle’s path was
not without its rough spots. During
his freshman and sophomore years
at Tech, he admits, he “kinda went
wild.”
“
Eventually, I realized that just
wasn’t working, and I got back on
track, spiritually.”Though he admits
the memories of that time are
painful, Nagle has seen God use his
“
wild” time in his ministry. He has
shared his story with some of the
students he’s met, and his honesty
has helped them open up about
their own struggles.
Franklin County High School
senior Bradley Rayburn had never
heard of Young Life when he
met Nagle, but he quickly
embraced the ministry –
when Nagle announced he
and several volunteer leaders
would be taking a group of
students to the Young Life
camp in Rockbridge, for a fall
weekend event, Rayburn was
the first to sign up.Ultimately
some 24 FCHS students
made the trip.
“
It was amazing how
quickly you bond, in just one
night,” he says, “how open
guys get with each other.”
Rayburn credited that
openness to the honest
sharing by Nagle and volunteer
leader Ben Brodin, who “both told
stories about their lives and how
they weren’t perfect.”
Franklin County junior Kayla
Anderson also made the trip to
Rockbridge. In addition to playing
octoball for three straight hours –
“
My back was really sore the next
day,” she laughs – Anderson says the
time away was freeing, and a chance
to shed the pressures of the day-to-
day.
“
It’s a chance to be with people
from school, outside of school,”
she says. “It seems like, in a way,
stereotypes are somewhat forgotten.
On the retreat we shared very
personal things… These people
were practically strangers to me but
I had no doubt trusting them with
things I haven’t even told my closest
friends.”
Ultimately, both Rayburn and
Anderson say that while such
bonding and honesty are really
important, the key to Young Life’s
success is that, well, it’s fun.
“
We are teenagers, and we love
to have fun,” says Anderson.
“
If you’re going to go after high
school kids, you gotta have fun,”
Rayburn echoes. “It can’t be Sunday
School…”
For his part, Nagle is simply
trying to be obedient to what he
believes God is calling him to do.
That includes getting to know more
FCHS students – a job made easier
when he volunteered to advise the
school’s yearbook staff – organizing
events that will raise the ministry’s
profile at the high school, and, until
formal club events begin in the fall,
taking Franklin County students to
clubs in Roanoke where Young Life
has been long established at Cave
Spring, Hidden Valley and Patrick
Henry high schools.
Oh, and he’s getting married in
June. His fiancée, December Tech
graduate Becca FitzGerald, will
be a volunteer leader and work
with Nagle and Brodin at the high
school. Good friend Kerri Styne,
who joined them on the Rockbridge
weekend trip, hopes to move to
Franklin County after she graduates
from Tech in May, to serve as a
second volunteer leader for female
students.
Nagle laughs as he marvels at
God’s timing in establishing and
growing Young Life in Franklin
County.
“
A lot of places, it takes years
to get Young Life rolling,” he says.
“
With all we’ve accomplished, and
to think we’re looking to start club
in (a few) months? It’s just wild.”
Jacobsen says she looks forward
to what God’s got planned next for
the young ministry.
“
What we’re really all about is
eternally impacting these kids,” she
says. “And I believe we’re just at the
tip of the iceberg.”
To learn more about Young Life,
visit
http://www.younglife.org/US.
To learn more about Franklin County
Young Life, visit Isaac’s blog at www.
francoyounglife.blogspot.com.
Young Life Continued...
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