Bill Hebner

I Recently had the privilege of being a guest of the NHS in Wales. I had surgery to repair an injury sustained last year while in South Africa. (They are re-attaching my bicep). Since leaving full time church ministry to work primarily with youth, I have not had many occasions to visit a hospital recovery unit. I had forgotten that overall, the age of the nation is getting older and the occupied beds at NHS accurately reflect that trend. The real eye opener... The thing that takes me aback however, is the stark entrenchment of people's demeanor. Those who have hope seem relaxed and empowered.... Those without hope seem even more hopeless. In college I remember studying Erickson’s psycho-social stages of development and the final stage being intimacy vs. isolation. My visit and surgery has driven home the point of how important the things we do with youth are. Yes, definitely for their eternity, but also for their life here and now. I believe that the experiences we have...

CLICK! Gallery & Facilities For those of you who did not get the last report, 2011 saw the Powis camp move up to the middle park site with the lakes, the quad, the low ropes course and most of all the quiet beautiful trees. The generator, waste system and water though having a few glitches during setup during camp ran seamlessly allowing us to not only enjoy the camp with the youth, but also paved the way to a larger capacity for next summer. The camp will extend to 3 weeks next year with a capacity of 200+ per week. We are expecting that this will translate to over 500 youth on the site through July and August. Please pray as we now are already all about detail the details for 2012. CLICK! Photos Gallery It is finished! At the time of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, not many people were catching on to what he was talking about, His fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant, that someday the ‘perfect lamb of God’ would be sacrificed to bring salvation to man. ...

This newsletter is being written in my car as I am once again in a field outside of Welshpool sleeping in a tent. After a much needed break with my family in Venice, we have returned to start the ‘pre setup’ camp for the soon to follow YL / Urban Saints camps running through the month of August. Click Here to See More This year with the change of site location to what we believe would be an excellent permanent camp facility, we find ourselves setting up infrastructure again. I know a great number of you have come along to support this vision already and I want to assure you that so much has been done due to your generosity. All I can say is thank you.... We have dredged the pond so that the water quality is adequate to swim. We have excavated for the Blob tower and a new waterslide. We have created a cesspit, one of those often overlooked important priorities and a countless other things that need to happen before the relational aspect of ministry here begins. MORE PHOTO...

As we head into the summer mayhem once again, it is my prayer that we all will have the ability to slow down, to embrace the natural beauty that God created all around us, to be still and know that He is God, and by doing so have the time to cut the jungle of business from our line of site long enough to re acquaint ourselves with our first love, and then the dreams He has for us. Christianity is not the absence of sin, but the fullness of life... Can you see what it is that God is calling you to? We are here to provide that sort of clarity over and over again in life after young life. Getting kids to camp is always an important step as we encourage everyone to stand back and get perspective. Hand me the spiritual chain saw. There is lots of work to be done this summer. These pictures show the new opening cut into the tree line to expose a beautiful man made 400 year old pond to be used for this summer’s Powis camp. Once these trees hit the water, it became apparent that this is ...

Week long camps are a luxury for many volunteer led groups as time off from work is difficult, but a weekend camp can also have the same significant effect on the lives of young people. Over 400 young people along with 200 leaders and volunteers will be part of SPREE Wales this year in Llanelli South Wales. Most of the same toys are transported to the event so the youth have the best weekend of their lives inside of a Welsh context. The 3 venues are geared towards the needs of specific youth allow leaders to ‘flex’ in their approach with the youth they bring to camp. Recently I was challenged that youth ministry is a great deal like sushi. It is only relevant on the day cut a specific way in a specific context. If you leave it too long, or mass produce it, it stinks. This year I will be running 4 young life style clubs July 1 to 3 to present the gospel in such a way as to allow leaders to youth process the message with their teens. Please pray that I keep the messages ‘fresh’. Invest...

After recently visiting the 20 youth from Cardiff that attended the April YMP trip 2011 for a BBQ and baptism service. I have now discovered that over 35 youth have already signed up for next year’s trip and another 15 are interested in coming along. Teaching youth to help others, and demonstrating that a life with Christ does not have to be boring can have a snowballing effect. I would covet your prayers for wisdom as we try to discern, how many and who should be on next year’s Africa trip. The event helps the poor; however it is also designed to build the lives of participants... Youth want to reach out and make a difference in their world, and we want them to know that Jesus Christ had the same agenda with eternal differences..

I always stand amazed at the privilege it is to do the things that I do... April 11 to 27 was no exception, having 83 young people and adults travel to Johannesburg SA to; • Feed the poor • Build relief housing • Attend Super 15 Rugby in Loftus Park • Play the Blue Bull’s from Pretoria • AND here the good news of Jesus Christ. (see video & photo galleries) Jesus said that He came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. This April was a season of abundance for all those who attended. And NO, it was not easy, it was hard. Sleeping in camping facilities with cold showers, sometimes in the rain, mixing concrete by hand, filling in a 250m long trench and putting in 12 hour days... But the group LOVED it.. why.. They were building memories, living life and doing so much more than existing. Jim Rayburn used to say. “It is a sin to bore a kid with the gospel”. Often I believe that we have taken this saying out of context, focusing on creating ‘fun’. I believe it is n...