Summer @CTF!

Happy Summer! 

My wife Lindsey and I finally got to take our "honeymoon" trip to Cancun!

    Welcome back to my ministry blog. I hope you're all having a great summer, and getting ready for a fun and relaxing 4th of July weekend. We've had a lot going on at CTF this summer, and we're only a few days out from camp!! Let me catch you up on what we've been doing.

Summer Interns

    On May 26th, we had three awesome college students from FOCUS join our team as summer interns! A huge part of what we do at CTF and throughout our family of churches is one on one discipleship and mentoring. In order to get to do that in CTF, we have to have a dedicated team of volunteer youth leaders. These three interns decided to give their summer to work part-time with us and learn more about what that looks like in youth ministry. Each week, these interns have a class with Ronnie Worsham (senior pastor of our Garland church), a class with me, attend our CTF staff meeting, meet with me or Brianna one on one, help plan and execute our Wednesday nights and events, and spend time with our students. They've all been so great, and I'm excited to see how the rest of the summer goes for them, as well as the impact that they'll have on our teens! 

Nicole! (One of our CTF Alum)

Stian!

Bella!

Lake Day

    A few weeks ago, we had CTF at the lake! It was a super fun day. We set up camp on the shore, had cornhole, spikeball, and other activities to do. John Von Runnen (our pastor at Wylie Northeast) brought his boat out, and our teens took turns going out tubing on the boat. It was such a fun day, and a really fun thing to get to do with our teens. 

CTF Camp!    

    We leave for camp on Monday! We're so excited for a week up in Sacramento, New Mexico with these teens. Next week will be a whole lot of time in the Word, worshipping God, learning about Him through sermons, small group discussions, devotional times, playing some games, and spending quality time with some amazing people. God consistently uses this camp to change lives, bring people closer to Him, and launch us into another year of ministering to teens. He is always faithful with camp, and we know He's going to be faithful again this year! Please pray for CTF Camp!

CTF Camp 2020

Gearing up for the Fall

    A big part of our summer is making plans for when the students go back to school in the fall. There are a couple things that we have planned that I'm super excited about this year! Every Monday this summer, we've been having training and planning sessions with a local minister that we partner with. His name is Matt Spencer and he's the director of a ministry called Bridge 2913. His ministry strives to partner local churches and pastors with teachers, coaches, and ultimately students in the public schools! The goal is to carry out disciple-making groups within certain already established groups in the schools (sports teams, clubs, friend groups, etc). Then, we as ministers get to step in, help lead the group, meet the students, help grow the student leaders, and plant more groups. After a year where we weren't allowed in the schools at all, we are SO EXCITED about this! We see this as a huge opportunity to meet students, pour into them, and equip them to be disciple makers. 

    One more thing that I'm super excited about this fall is that we are adding a staff member! His name is Matthew Carothers, and if you know me very well, then you probably know him too. Matt has been one of my best friends going all the way back to elementary school. We grew up in this ministry together, served in college ministry together, have been through the best and worst times of life together, and now we get to work in youth ministry together. Matt is going to be doing the CTF Apprenticeship this upcoming August through May. We're super excited to have him on our staff team this year!

For your amusement, Matt and I (circa 2009)

Matt and I at my wedding last year

Prayer Requests

-CTF Camp next week! Pray for safety traveling there and back, and pray for God to work powerfully in these teen's hearts. Pray that the ones who don't know Jesus will come to know Him, that the ones who need a restart will find grace and mercy in God, and that this week will set up every teen for a life fully devoted to Jesus.

-Our Summer Interns. Pray for our interns as they've given their summer to serve teens. Pray that God would teach them, bless them, and grow them closer to Jesus. Pray that they would have a positive impact on our teens this summer. 

-Our youth leaders. Pray for our adult youth leader volunteers. We can't do what we do without them. They are a crucial part of this ministry, and they have such a huge impact on our teens. Pray that God would bless them, strengthen them, and encourage them to continue serving these teens. 

-Our staff as we get ready for the year. Pray for Matt and I as we continue our fundraising for this next year. Pray for our staff as we make plans for this school year.

-Our partnership with Bridge 2913. Ask God to open doors in the schools, so that we can start those disciple making groups right at the beginning of the school year!

    As always, thank you for your support! I can't do this without y'all, and I'm so appreciative of your financial support and your prayers. Thank you! Please reach out if you ever want to talk more about CTF and what we're doing, or have any questions. God bless! 

William Royal

william@ctfwylie.org

972-979-6722