Barn Party! What a night.

Last night was quite the night!  The Indianapolis staff decided to have an all city barn party at a barn in Westfield.  Hayrides, bonfire, Young Life Club in a real barn with cows mooing all around us.  What a night!  Over 400 kids from Westfield, Carmel, Zville, North Central, Brebeuf and Noblesville joined us.

Carmel had some new that have never been to Young Life before-I talked to one of the girls afterwards and she said "I am definitely coming to club again!"  This is a kid that I have known for a while but has never wanted to come to YL.  Glad the barn party was an opportunity for her to come to see what YL is about and more importantly meet some leaders who will follow up with her.

Here is a story from Joe, YL staff in Westfield.

I have a quick kid story from last night. There's a kid that I bring to club every week to help me set up.  I met him through the counselors at the high school last year and have become really tight with him. He came to know Christ at camp this past summer and has taken baby steps in his faith. One of his struggles is that he lives in government housing, and the group of kids he's around are a bad influence on him. They kind of make fun of him for being a Christian, and I've told him that he should invite those kids to YL. But I think he's scared to. They think YL sounds lame....which let's be honest, sometimes when we try to explain it it kind of does sound lame. Anyway, last night he brought three of those friends with him to the barn party....and they were blown away. They all said, " I didn't expect YL to be like this!! That was awesome!" They are eager to get more connected with YL now and it was a good opportunity for me to be more of a part of this kids life by connecting with his friends.

The night started off with hayrides and a bonfire..here are some Carmel kids and leaders enjoying both.

We then moved to the upper part of the barn where we had Young Life Club complete with singing Kelly Clarkson, some run on characters (Corn and Cotton) who led us in games and line dancing.  We sang the traditional "Free Fallin" and "Light the Fire" to end the  club time!

And of course the night ended with a huge dance party-with some old and new songs!

The barn party created shared experiences with leaders and kids and created long lasting memories for them.  It also started a lot of buzz about Young Life all over Indianapolis!