House Construction
One of the YouthFront summer ministries is house construction for local families who are in need. The houses are concrete with a tin roof. They are a single room usually 16×12ft and have two doors and two windows. Six outlets and three lights are provided, but no plumbing (most families in croc have a hose for water and an outhouse).
While the houses have a simple design, it is critical that the groups who come every week be taught and supervised in how to build. This role is taken up by two or three construction supervisors, one of whom will be Jake. He has performed this role in the summers of 2006 and 2007.
Discussion Group Organizer
The summer staff leads hour long, structured discussion times with the high school students. These were designed in an effort to help the students understand and change in response to the new experiences they are having in the course of their week in Croc. These voluntary times challenge the students to talk through their views on topics such as poverty, immigration, and simplicity. Both students and youth leaders have positively responded to this opportunity. Jake’s role will be to co-lead one or two of these discussions as he has done the past two summers. Furthermore, as he did last summer, he will be responsible for gathering research materials on all of the topics and training/supporting the summer staffers on how to lead the discussions.
Summer Staff Bible Study
Throughout their time in Croc, the summer staff is asked to pour into the lives of both the visiting groups and also the local people. The summer staff Bible study is designed to encourage the staff to grow personally in Christ throughout the summer so that they can minister effectively and get the most out of their time in Croc. Like the groups that come down for a week, these college students are both ministering to others and being changed themselves and it is important not to neglect the latter. This Bible study helps sharpen the experiences and changes that are occurring in the summer staff. Jake will lead this study as he did last summer.
Training DVD for House Construction Supervisors
Currently YouthFront has very little pre-trip training for construction supervisors—many of whom have little construction experience before coming. YouthFront has relied on on-site training by both experienced summer staff and fulltime staff. Yet with this system new construction supervisors can’t entirely fulfill their role for the first several weeks of the eight weeks of summer construction. Jake will film material for a training video this summer and then edit and produce it over the winter to have ready for the 2009 summer staff. Its goal will be to reduce the time of on-site training from three to four weeks down to one to two weeks.
