With that said we have exciting news. Our little work together has grown more than we ever imagined. Maybe you knew it would, we know God is not surprised, but we have spent six months trying to wrap our brains around what we are about to tell you…Young Life is starting to be a huge force of change and vessel for the gospel not just in Eleuthera but all over the Bahamas.
Six years ago the Lord brought me to a little island called Eleuthera. I quickly fell in love with the people, the culture, and the beauty of this little island that God made. What I fell in love with most of all though was the vision God shared with me for the people of this island to know His love. I got to spend a few years watching the Lord pursue this island and then almost four years ago He invited me in. After praying and planning, I enjoyed the incredible gift of a year spent inviting each of you to share this journey with me. I got to dream with you about what God would do here and invite you to ask God if He was calling you to be a part of this journey with me. Together we built a team of people who felt God’s tug on their heart to get involved with a community of teenagers that needed the chance for a relationship with Jesus.
Our team has consisted of people on the island doing work with us, people who have provided financially for the work here, and people who have taken this community to the feet of Jesus in prayer. Without each of you making up so many essential parts of this team, all of us as a whole would have missed the privilege of getting to be a part of the Lord’s plan for this island.
Last May we had a large majority of our second class of YL Eleuthera high school graduates head off to Nassau to go to school or find work. It was unsettling to hear stories of life once they got there. Nassau is a big city full of violence, crime and brokenness; just like ones many of us know in the US. We send our 17 year olds to the wolves (meaning gangs and drug dealers) and then struggle to find groups to pair them with. After talking to Marvin, my counterpart on Grand Bahama, I realized that many other islands feel the same way. Young life, in order for it to be consistent in the lives of the kids we love, was going to have to grow to all of the islands of the Bahamas.
This is a big undertaking, but the foundations are already being built. We have begun to train committee members and potential leaders in Nassau, and Young Life is quickly and organically growing as we finally figure out the direction God is pulling us. In January we presented a new vision to my Regional Director and Vice President of Young Life International, with the goal of starting to look at the Bahamas as a whole and develop Young Life on all Bahamian islands.
As we fleshed out what this would look like we came up with a few cornerstone ideas:
- An area director per island is needed to oversee Young Life and Wyldlife for each particular Bahamian island including:
- Nassau
- Eleuthera
- Grand Bahama
- Abaco
- Bimini
- Long Island
- Cat
- Andros
- Mayaguana
- Rum Cay
- Ragged Island
- The Exumas
- The Berry Islands
- San Salvador
- Inagua
- Acklins and Crooked Island
- A Young Life College director is needed for all of the college students in the Bahamas that will be based near campus in Nassau.
- A Young Lives director and Capernaum Director based in Nassau and in charge of identifying and training leaders to specialize in these ministries on each island throughout the Bahamas.
- A Bahamas Country Developer that would help grow the mission in the Bahamas and the support and training for it from the US.
Our directors, staff and volunteers have rallied behind this new vision and asked that we step into the role of Bahamas Country Developer. We have spent six months praying, seeking wisdom and counsel, and feel this truly is where the Lord is pulling us. We have begun looking for an area director for Eleuthera to take over our job and next summer I will step into this new role, sad to not be constantly anchored in our sweet community on Eleuthera but grateful for the chance to be a a part of what God is doing on each community throughout the Bahamas.
This is an exciting new undertaking and we will need to grow a large team, both in the Bahamas and Stateside, around this vision. For our friends that have been with us as we have served on Eleuthera, we want to invite you to continue being a part of the Lord’s vision for the Bahamas by moving with us into this new adventure. This is an exciting time for Young Life in the Bahamas, and there is no one we would rather share it with than each of you!
I will be calling my monthly financial team over the next few weeks to talk this over with each of you. If you are not on that list but would like to join us, please email me at sarah.s.starr@gmail.com and I would love to talk with you. This will be my final blogpost at “It’s All About The Adventure”. If you are not currently getting our email updates and wish to, please send your email address to sarah.s.starr@gmail.com. Our new blog can be found at www.bahamasyl.com.
As Ben and I have prayed over these decisions and transitions one thing that we consistently come back to is how much the Lord has blessed us both through our home community here on Eleuthera and our community with you guys all over the States. Home is a beautifully messy word for us, resting geographically both in Gregory Town and Raleigh but emotionally in the homes and lives of each of you as you have stood with us in bringing life to this vision for the Bahamas. Thank you for letting us into your hearts and stories, please join us as we write more of ours with Young Life in the Bahamas.
