Bill Hebner

If you have ever water-skied , driven a boat, flown a float plane or as some did this summer, flown   a hovercraft on a body of water, you will understand what I mean by getting up and on to the step .   It is the time when the period of greatest water resistance bleeds away and you can feel the craft really starting to make progress.   When you are waterskiing, you can often wonder if the battle is worth it... in a float plane and hovercraft it is part of the ride... but with a CAMP   it is the most exhilarating and overwhelming experience I think I ever had.     ON THE STEP Click for more Photo Updates   In 2010 the possibility of a camp in Middle Park was a dream, a collection of questions more than answers, and a list of logistics problems that kept most of us up at night....pondering solutions that would have to have answers for the camp to survive... BUT in 2013... Camp is now starting to seem NORMAL.. We had a new state o...

Since July 4 th I have had the privilege of working with just under 900 kids and leaders at camp .   Many of them hearing the good news of Jesus Christ the first time .   Others hearing it in a fresh and vibrant way.   ( Click to see photos of all the fun ) SEEDS SOWN   Vibrant and fresh presentation of the good news. As the lights go on in the souls of many of these teens, I often am quieted to think about their future as they go home.   Some face rocky soil, parents that will flat out tell them they are wrong, have made a mistake, and that the love in their life and the light in their eyes is a passing emotional phase.   Others will get home, perhaps even supported by parents that were hoping to introduce their youth to Christ in some way, only to see the seeds of excitement snatched away by the peer pressure and friendships that they are returning too.   15 young people from a community in Scotland will be facing such pressures as the world...

_______________________________________ I had a great deal of affirmation after last month’s blog.   We truly do serve only one.   He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.   But we do not serve in isolation.   Often, outside of our control we encounter ‘gifts from God’.   These co-travellers, committed to the same relationship with God, but skilled in different ways to compliment what God is doing in our own life.   When we walk with the Lord it is amazing how many of these travellers appear to support a vision centred on the development of God’s kingdom.   This blog is dedicated to those who ‘draw alongside’ at the right time, for the right reasons, to weave together the tapestry we are constructing for Him. Bob with me in Africa building relief housing..... Bob- A 70+ servant of the Lord , faithfully comes and waters the grass on our hot Welsh spring days ensuring that there will be a playing field for youth this summ...

March to May has seen very little time for pausing and reflecting.   If I was not off to Africa, I was preaching at my local church or digging a ditch at the summer camp.   There has been no end of variety of activity that I have face on any given day or week this spring.   But how do you measure if this time was successful or not?   How do we quantify success with such diversity in life?   How do any of us know if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing when we are doing so many diverse things? I don’t think I am alone in saying that we all face this at some time in our lives.   We live in a fluid world with so many variables that it can seem hard to find a benchmark to determine success.   Kids come, kids go, work goes well and then hits a wall, our health is here and then the health is a hopeful memory standing in our way of what we used to be able to accomplish.   So how do we measure success?   It is my firm belief that t...

Click here for enlarge images in Photo Gallery 2013 will see the Middle Park Camp, settling in and expanding resources. This blog is late because I was busy grading the expanded residential fields, installing a road and football pitch and building a new blob tower with an expedition team for Scotland and a second from Virginia.     Year one was amazing with 550 bodies visiting the site over the summer.   Most, young people from the Celtic nations Ireland, Scotland and Wales are travelling with their leaders to experience the ‘best week of their lives’ at a culturally relevant event.   This year we will repeat that and, as much as we can, raise the bar for young people to see us love them in an unconditional way as Jesus Christ did for us.   2013 will see the return of a Hovercraft to the camp.   This will replace the experimental quad bikes that have proven very hard and costly to repair.   Then we have the addition of Air Soft (a modified pai...

There is nothing more empowering than seeing those you helped, empowering themselves ( see video below ).   The Africa 2013 project was delivered on time and on budget as phase 1 or the 2 story building was completed in Grasmere, Gauteng, South Africa.   In total 96 participants raised just under £100,000 to make a difference to the 130+ orphans in the centre.   In late October a second team will go down to install the second floor of the structure.   This will be out of containers.   Below we see pastor Tommy and his local crew putting the final touches on the North building. If you are interested in going on the October trip, send me a note and I will make arrangements to have you along. Click to see more photos in gallery.

Please Note: There has been a 10 day delay in the posting of this blog. Bill has been in Africa since March 18 th . All Africa photos have been taken since his arrival, My apologies for the delay. T.R admin This blog is being written @ 32,000 ft as I am once again folded into an economy seat in the back of a Boeing 777 head back to Johannesburg for our 2013 YMP build.   This year 92 youth and leaders are attending this year’s build event. Our first contingency of 12 from Calgary Younglife...Yes Calgary…will be building the first phase of a 32 bed dorm for orphans. Why?.....Why not? We are His workmanship created to do good works in Christ (Ephesians 2:10).    Our Job More 2013 Photos In Gallery Our job is to meet teens where they are at in order to help them to understand the full cost of being a disciple, and to become complete in Christ. This needs to be done BEFORE we send these youth out from high school to stand on their own. Therefore we need to develo...