"Thank you so much for sharing what's inside of you with the rest of us yesterday at IBC. My son, Brandon, who is 12, turned to me, mouth agape, with rheumy eyes as you sang that stop-in-your-tracks challenge. Today after school, I hear a familiar tune coming from around the corner of the kitchen. Brandon walks in and asks me if we can get a hold of the song Ezra sang at church y'day. Then he continued singing, "I see Jesus in San Francisco..." as he walked away. I wanted to share this with you and thank you again for your authentic heart and contribution to people, as well as not compromising your respect and devotion to Christ."

Michelle

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Ted Bruun's Extreme Tour Summary

Wow ! How do I adequately put it in words ? This has been an unprecedented year for Extreme Youth Ministries.

Unbelievable Victories this past summer, and Amazing Opportunities for the year to come.

I am humbled to think that, in the weaknesses I am aware of in my team and I, that the God who created Heaven and Earth would entrust to us such awesome privileges and responsibilities as to be a part of His Plan, to play a role in His kingdom. I know with all certainty that we do not deserve this. I can assure you that it is merely the Grace and Love of an Almighty God that has brought us to this place of incredible blessing as a ministry and as a team. He deserves all Glory, Honor, and Praise, and I testify to you now of His faithfulness.

This past summer, the Extreme Tour team of over 1,000 volunteers, hundreds of churches, and almost 60 bands ministered to approximately 25,000 people in almost 100 cities across the United States. It was the longest, most ambitious, most well attended Extreme Tour yet ! It was amazing, and quite honestly, beyond what we had even expected or imagined it would be ! But that was just the start !

As the summer unfolded, we saw God begin to set the stage for what He is going to do in the future ! We were able, for the first time ever, to get into schools in the cities we visited and do assemblies for thousands of kids ! The folks from the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, Stephen Baldwin s Livin It Ministry, and the Next Generation Alliance invited us to meet with them to see how they could assist us, and we have begun to develop a real and long term relationship with them. We were invited to speak at many industry seminars and conventions about the ministry that God has called us to, an amazing opportunity and blessing as our Vision is not typical for an industry that tries to balance the bottom line. We were highlighted by a best selling SECULAR author writing a book on the revolutionary Christian Youth Culture. We received an unprecedented amount of requests from folks to come and minister in their city (more than we could even do at that point, in fact), and we recently teamed up with Outreach.Com to give the 275,000 churches they represent the opportunity to host an Extreme Tour event in their town ! And, to top it all off, a group of Salem area businessmen stepped forward and, not only committed to get us a new building to do ministry out of, but have also bought us a HOUSE to live in as well !!!

There was Amazing Victory happening behind the scenes as well. Bands like Believe, Neviah Nevi, Tek-Son, Not Called Common, Jerimae Yoder, and others were stepping up to the plate, going beyond what anyone had expected (including even THEM), and leading the charge into broken and hurting communities ! God was changing lives, and raising up leaders, mighty Men and Women of God, placing them in ministry roles that they had not before anticipated or imagined. Erik Basilin, who, just a year ago, was struggling with addiction and depression, stepped forward after a year of God doing amazing things in His life, and served as a minister on the Heartland Leg, reaching kids in the bondage that God just recently set HIM free from ! Erik even LED THE TEAM for a couple weeks while I was meeting with the Luis Palau folks !

I saw artists set aside their agendas, sacrificing set time to Worship God, rather than just perform one of their own numbers. I saw financially strapped team members giving away merch to street kids who needed to hear the Gospel, rather than just selling it to those who had the money. I saw bands step out in faith, keeping their commitment to God to travel to each city and minister, often with no idea where the money to get from town to town, or to get home when it was over, was even going to come from. I saw Tour Alumni like Dizmas, KJ-52, Kutless, and others step forward and participate in major ministry outreaches around the world, serving much like they did with us, selflessly, for the Lord. I saw the City Leaders of Coffeyville, Kansas actually move mountains (of the red tape variety) to pull off hosting an Extreme Tour Event in their city in less than 24 HOURS because they believed, these SECULAR city leaders, that their town needed the Good News and Hope that the Extreme Tour was about !!!!!

But, more than anything, I saw GOD'S Faithfulness most of all ! It was His Power that got us from city to city when the money ran out. It was His Power that opened the doors for us to minister in Schools, Industry Functions, and City Squares. It was His Hand that opened the doors for Tour Alumni like Dizmas and others to reach even more people through the expanded platform He has given them. It is His Hand that, even now, is expanding the reach of this ministry that, just a few years ago, was just a small summer outreach of a small country church in Idaho. God is FAITHFUL ! And, He will CONTINUE to be!

My prayer is that we will continue to be teachable. That God will continue to mold us into who He wants us to be. Sometimes I am anxious as I think how far we have to go. How much we still need to grow, and to change, and to mature. We are not there yet. We have not arrived. Sometimes it seems like we never will. But I am reminded that He who began a Good Work in us . . ., that He will be faithful to complete it !

What hope that gives me ! Like my friends in Two Twenty sing, that we will arrive at that place as people that God has called us to someday. And to know that, when we do, it will again be His Faithfulness that got us there, just like it has been His Faithfulness that has done all these things this summer, His Faithfulness that even now prepares the way for the upcoming summers.

When I look back. It is Him I see. When I look forward, I see His hand. How great is THAT ? Very.

Ted Bruun, Executive Director, Extreme Youth Ministries.