Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, said “I’ve never run into a person who yearns for their middle school days.” You can probably relate. It seems that the middle school years are tough on everyone. They certainly were for Darius McClure.

Like most kids, Darius was struggling trying to figure out who he was and where he fit in the changing world around him. Adolescence involves detaching somewhat from childhood and parents and forming a second social family outside of the home. This stressful social transformation, in addition to the emotional and physical ones, often produces emotions that kids themselves don’t understand.

To make matters worse, Darius had to deal with the death of his grandfather, who had always been a source of encouragement and stability in his life. The overwhelming loneliness he felt drove him to desperation, and he made plans to end his life.

“I came home from school one afternoon and went straight to my room,” recalled Darius. “I had made my plan and I was ready to follow through. I was actively trying to block thoughts of my friends and family from my mind.”

Fortunately, there was one thought that he just couldn’t escape. “I started to think about all the smiling faces of my YOKE Folk,” said Darius. “As these images came to mind, God reminded me of a message I had heard over and over at YOKE – that I was loved unconditionally, no matter what. The love that my YOKE Folk showed me literally saved my life that day.”

Like most YOKE Kids, camp was always a highlight for Darius. “Being around new people in a different environment pushed me out of my comfort zone and really helped me grow,” he said. Through YOKE’s Future Folk program, he continued to grow and serve at camp.

Now, a senior at Heritage High School, he serves as a YOKE Folk at Heritage Middle and last fall brought six of his own YOKE Kids to camp for the first time. He also serves as a student leader in his youth group at RIO Revolution, where he leads a small group for middle school boys, and recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He plans to attend college in the fall, majoring in music education, with hopes of one day teaching music to middle school students.
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Like many of the kids that we serve, Darius would never have been able to attend camp – or bring his own kids to camp – without the generous financial assistance that YOKE's financial partners provide. Spring camp is just around the corner. Would you consider making a gift to impact the life of a middle school student like Darius? 

It costs $125 to send a kid to camp, so your gift to YOKE could help in the following ways: 

• $125     Sponsor 1 YOKE Kid
• $250     Sponsor 1 YOKE Kid & their YOKE Folk
• $500     Sponsor a cabin of YOKE Kids
• $1000   Sponsor a whole YOKE Club

Click the button below to give securely online, or mail your gift to YOKE at P.O. Box 3492, Knoxville, TN, 37927. Thank you for your partnership!

Scott Sutton attended YOKE at Gresham Middle School as an eighth grader in 1984. He remembers his time in YOKE fondly, but his involvement with the program ended after his time in middle school—until last fall.

Scott only recently became a follower of Jesus. Scott’s newfound faith helped sustain him through a difficult period and he found himself looking for opportunities to give back. Having originally gone to school with the hope of becoming a coach or a teacher someday, Scott always had a passion for serving kids. Even though his career took a different path (he now works for a commercial plumbing wholesaler), he put a lot of that energy into coaching his son’s sports teams as he grew up.

About five years ago, Scott ran into one of his former YOKE Folk at the dentist’s office. As he chatted with her, he remembered the impact YOKE had on his life. As he was considering a place to serve, this interaction came to mind.

Scott learned that Eric and Ara Langford, two of his closest friends in high school, are now YOKE Team Leaders at Karns. He called Eric to share his story and mentioned that he was interested in serving with YOKE.

“After I spoke with Eric, I got plugged in with YOKE quickly,” said Scott. “It felt as if God had opened this door for me at the perfect time, so I wanted to step through it immediately.”

After seeing the opportunity that God had provided for him through YOKE, Scott was faced with the decision of where to serve. Gresham was where he attended, but Vine was closer to home. He considered Karns, because of his friendship with Eric, but ultimately landed at Carter, which is where his children had attended.

“At first I was a little hesitant to serve at Carter,” Scott admitted. “It was a source of pain for me, knowing that I had not been a godly father to my kids when they were there. But I had been around the Carter community enough to know that it needed the love that YOKE provides, and I felt God leading me to set aside my own discomfort to serve these kids.”

At YOKE Camp last fall, Scott realized that, through YOKE, he had an opportunity to impact the lives of the YOKE Folk as well as the middle school students. Having started with YOKE later in life than many of our leaders do, he has also enjoyed being able to invest in the college-age YOKE Folk on his team.

“I love the opportunity that YOKE gives me to work with kids, because I feel like I’m a big kid at heart,” said Scott. “But I’m starting to realize that God has me here to minister to the younger YOKE Folk just as much as the kids. If I’m able to help one YOKE Folk and one middle school kid, then I think it’s all worth it.”
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Though most of our YOKE Folk are college age, it’s never too late to have an impact. For more information about how you can be involved,  contact program director Eli Cockrum at eli@yokeyouth.com or fill out our online application and someone will follow up with you soon.

YOKE places a high value on leadership development. That means more to us than simply training volunteers to “do club” better. That’s part of it, but we also aim to equip young leaders for a lifetime of service, wherever God may lead them. We want our YOKE Folk to be better employees, better neighbors, better church members, and better parents because of their time with YOKE. The annual Leadership Summit is a big part of that effort.

YOKE Folk and staff got away for three days recently at Carson Springs Conference Center in Newport, TN. We planned the event with three goals in mind: to be refreshed, to build community, and to be equipped for service. Though most of us needed a nap when it was over, it’s safe to say that all three goals were accomplished.

Kevin DuBose, an area director for Emerald Youth, was our guest speaker for the weekend. He taught about a leadership perspective, practice, and purpose from Luke 24. Cynthia Lynn from the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network provided valuable training on recognizing signs and helping to prevent suicide. In addition, YOKE staff provided training on how to nurture your relationship with God and stressed the importance of Kid Time – that time spent with kids outside of club. Thanks also to T.C. and Danielle Chambers of Concord West Hills for helping lead worship.

There was plenty of free time, too, and YOKE Folk from all five counties took advantage of the time to catch up. One of the highlights, though, was the Inaugural YOKE Bowling Tournament. We rented out Victory Lanes in Newport for the special late-night event. Congratulations to Kyle Holland (Halls), who took home the trophy for the high score. The Halls team also took honors for the best overall team score.
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“One of the things that I learned this weekend is that Christian leadership is letting our light shine in the midst of the darkness,” said Chastedy Johnson. “Our little light has a huge impact on ushering people into God’s presence.” 

YOKE is excited to be launching a club at Eagleton Middle School this semester, after missing last semester due to volunteer turnover. We were thrilled to have 41 kids from the school join us for the very first club this week!

In the fall of 2018, Broadway Baptist Church in Maryville expressed a desire to partner with YOKE to impact students at Eagleton. They began building a team of volunteer leaders to plan and lead a weekly club, and spend quality time with students from the school throughout the week.

Nelson Chapman, team leader at Eagleton and a member of Broadway Baptist Church, has been particularly excited about getting started. “With a supportive administration, an ethnically diverse team from multiple churches, and a desire to share hope with middle school students, we have seen the overwhelming presence of the Lord going before us,” said Nelson. “Sometimes as a child of God, you just know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be,” he added. “This is one of those times.”

Dani Castillo, a pastor at nearby St. John’s United Methodist Church, has wanted to partner with YOKE at Eagleton for several months. He jumped right in, bringing with him another member of the church, Carmen Vargas. Dani and Carmen are both bilingual, which is a great asset considering about 15% of the students at Eagleton are Hispanic, and many of those students are more comfortable speaking Spanish.

In addition to helping meet the spiritual and emotional needs of these students, our team is helping to meet their physical needs as well. For some students, the school lunch may be their only meal of the day. Both Broadway and St. John’s serve dinner before their Wednesday night services. With club on Wednesday afternoons, the team will be able to offer students a ride to their churches just down the street, where the students can receive a free meal and an opportunity to interact and worship with other kids their age.

Eagleton’s new principal, Summer Russell, has been immensely supportive of YOKE, and Kelsey Watson, a former YOKE Folk, is serving as our faculty sponsor. “I am so thankful for the turnout at club yesterday,” Kelsey said.  “Like other schools, many of our students have rough home lives and really need the support and encouragement that YOKE provides. Praise God that YOKE is back at Eagleton.”
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While our team has gotten off to a great start, the huge turnout for our first club has made it clear that we could use some extra help. YOKE is always looking for new volunteer leaders to plug into our schools. If you are interested in getting involved with YOKE at Eagleton, contact Eli Smith at eli.smith@yokeyouth.com, or apply, right here on our website.
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A new semester presents a new opportunity to begin investing in your community. YOKE launched at three new schools this year, bringing the total up to 30 schools across five counties. Since many leaders are college students, a new semester can also mean a change of schedule for some people. This can lead to some of teams needing a little extra help if some of their team members have schedule conflicts—but for others, a schedule change can mean some time freed up. Would you consider serving this semester?

Here are some of the benefits that come with becoming a YOKE Folk:

• You will gain valuable experience working with a team. There is a team of YOKE Folk dedicated to each one of our 30 schools. Each week, these teams are responsible for planning and leading an afterschool YOKE Club, as well as spending quality time with middle school kids outside of club. As a valuable member of a YOKE Team, you will be presented with opportunities that will challenge you and help you grow, with your teammates right beside you every step of the way.
• You will have the opportunity for lasting impact on a student’s life. Every child deserves a caring adult that will step into their life and be present through the good and the bad. From afterschool clubs to weekend camps, everything that we do is designed with the end goal of forming meaningful relationships between students and mentors, some that will last for years to come.
• You will have access to training and resources that will equip you for a lifetime of service. YOKE ensures that all volunteers have what they need to effectively impact middle school students. This includes training sessions, online ministry resources, and an annual Leadership Summit where YOKE Folk from across five counties gather to worship and learn together.
• You will become part of the YOKE Community. YOKE is more than a program or a volunteering opportunity—it’s a family. While YOKE Folk form valuable relationships with the students they serve, they also form deep bonds with the other leaders they serve alongside.

Jeff Bronner, a Team Leader at Northwest Middle School, was once a YOKE kid himself. Recalling his time in YOKE, Jeff said, “In every dark corner of my life, God held me fast, guiding me closer and closer to exactly where He wanted me.”

“I can’t imagine where I would have ended up without YOKE,” added Jeff. “This ministry is so much more than a mentoring program; it is a vessel that God uses to mend broken hearts and find lost souls.”

If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved with YOKE, contact program director Eli Cockrum: eli@yokeyouth.com or  fill out an application on our website and someone will follow up with you soon.

YOKE is more than our weekly after-school clubs. YOKE is about being present, when and where kids need us the most. This might be a club or a camp or a Bible study. More often than not, it’s a basketball game, a concert, or lunch in the cafeteria.

I joined our team at Jefferson Middle School recently for lunch at the school. It always feels awkward walking into a cafeteria full of middle school students, even for someone who does it for a living. Our plan was to walk around and check in with all the YOKE kids, and see what doors might open to invite others to club.

We began making the rounds talking with our kids, answering questions about who we were, and inviting kids to club. We saw a couple of young ladies that had been to YOKE in the past, but hadn’t come in a while. As we walked over to greet them, we noticed that two of the girls (one YOKE Kid, one young lady that we just met) were fighting back tears. When we asked them what was going on, the flood gates opened.

This scenario happens over and over again when you show up for kids. Maybe it was bullying, bad grades, parents not getting along, a fight with a friend, or being excluded. We’ve experienced it before because we choose to be present. We take the opportunity to sit and listen, to let them talk and share about their lives. That presence earns us the opportunity to speak in to their lives. We are not just another voice talking at them, rather we are entering into their lives. When that happens, we have opportunities to share the love and the truth of the Gospel.   

25 years ago, I was that student. I still remember where I was sitting in the Halls Middle School cafeteria, seeing my YOKE Folk walk in the door and sit down across from me. In my three years of middle school, I rarely missed a YOKE Club, camp, or summer adventure. But the moment that is clearest of all my YOKE memories is that one - the YOKE Folk that made himself available to me.
After the tears stopped, we talked about the situation for just a few minutes. The bell rang and they were off to their next class. The interaction was brief and the advice was practical, but more importantly, for those few minutes you could see in their eyes that they felt heard and loved, and that was enough.  

"…so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well." 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV)

This is a message for all of the YOKE Folk, serving in 30 schools in 5 counties. Thank you so much for all that you do to invest in kids in the schools that YOKE serves. I know that it is hard sometimes to tell if you’re really making a difference, but I assure you that you are. Your presence makes a difference to those kids, to the school, and to the community. In my position, I have the privilege of hearing this on a regular basis from kids, parents, teachers, principals, community partners, and pastors.

I am writing to encourage you to register for our 2019 Leadership Summit. We told you about this when you first signed up, and now the time is here. The Summit will be held January 18-20 at Carson Springs Retreat Center in Newport. I know that you will enjoy our time together. We plan this weekend every year with three things in mind.

First, we want you to be refreshed. It’s a weekend that you can get away and spend time being encouraged by your friends. Hopefully, you can take some time off of work, put the school books away for a weekend, and just have some fun.

Second, we want you to enjoy being a part of the YOKE community. We want YOKE to be more than just a service opportunity; we want it to be a family. This weekend is a chance for you to get to know and interact with our staff and other YOKE Folk from around our service area. Friendships are forged through YOKE that will continue to impact your life for years to come, but only if you make yourself available.

Third, we want you to be equipped for ministry. Yes, we want you to be the best YOKE Folk that you can be, so we’ll try to help you “do” YOKE better. But we also want to equip you to be better employees, better neighbors, better friends, and better leaders wherever God may take you. We hope that your time with YOKE prepares you for a lifetime of service in God’s Kingdom.

I hope that you’ll sign up today. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so by clicking here. Our time together will be enriched by your presence. I look forward to seeing you at Carson Springs!

​Thanks to your generous support, YOKE now has clubs in 30 middle schools across 5 counties. Those clubs are not the end, though; they’re simply the means to an end. YOKE is all about relationships and it’s amazing how God can transform a student’s heart through accepting, loving, and life-giving relationships with YOKE Folk.

Skylar wasn’t sure what to expect when he got invited to participate in YOKE’s Summer Adventures. He didn’t know anyone and he feared he wouldn’t be able to fit in or make friends. Skylar was also carrying an additional burden. Earlier that year, he’d witnessed the death of his little brother in a traffic accident as the two played together in front of their home.

“It rocked our family and left him questioning God, his own place in the world, and how to function through the guilt,” said Skylar’s mom, Heather. “He no longer smiled, he wasn’t connecting with people, and he feared he might never be seen as anything other than wounded ever again.”

When we asked him what his first experience with YOKE was like, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Normal,” he said. Skylar made friends, exchanged phone numbers and eagerly anticipated the beginning of a new school year.

   “YOKE changed the way I thought about God, about people, and about myself,” said Skylar.

"The staff and YOKE Folk helped me through some tough times by talking with me, encouraging me, and by offering wisdom in my grieving. Having YOKE to look forward to each week saved me.”

One of Skylar’s favorite memories is from camp later that year, where he made a decision to follow Jesus. “They had this giant sledgehammer and smashed all kinds of stuff! I was wet and dirty with chunks of watermelon all over me. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a very long time,” he said. “That felt good, just to be a kid.”

“YOKE gave my son life again,” said Heather. The relationships and experiences put a smile back on his face. I’m thankful every time he comes home sweaty, covered in whipped cream and mud, and smiling from ear to ear because it means one less day of pain and guilt for him. I hope that people will continue to invest in this beautiful, amazing program that gives so much to so many.”

When you give to YOKE, this is the kind of transformation that you make possible. Would you consider making your year-end gift to YOKE to help us continue reaching young people like Skylar? Mail your gift to YOKE at P.O. Box 3492, Knoxville, TN 37927. Or make a secure gift online anytime with your credit card. 

We are grateful for your partnership!

Hillbilly Camp was the theme for YOKE's fall camp, with students and YOKE Folk alike donning flannel shirts and overalls. More than 400 kids and leaders attended one of two camps held over two weekends this month. 

Campers had an opportunity to enjoy storytelling by Phil Campbell (son of Hee Haw host Archie Campbell), and watch Hillbilly themed skits. They played hillbilly games, and participated in YOKE's Frontier Adventures which included bull rides, hatchet throwing, marshmallow roasting, sack races, and face painting.

One of the biggest highlights of camp  was the baby pig that spent each weekend at camp. Teams got to vote on a name for the pig, while YOKE Kids at each school picked one of their YOKE Folk to kiss the pig.

YOKE Folk led the students in worship, and spent valuable time answering questions and encouraging students in their faith throughout the weekend. Brandin-Lea Stevens, Team Leader at Halls Middle explained, "The younger generation is listening. They so badly want to have someone care for them, to walk with them, to love on them. They have REAL struggles, they fight REAL battles, and they welcome the HOPE of JESUS."

Alan Duncan, Team Leader at Gibbs Middle said, "Spending time with the middle school students will continue to be a bigger blessing to me than I can ever hope to be to them." 

​One parent from Blount County wrote, "I wanted to tell you how full my heart is after hearing all about Daniel's weekend! It makes a mama happy to know her kids are being loved and encouraged by such great, Christian role models! Y'all make it easier for these young teens to imitate Jesus because you're doing such a good job of it. You all have influenced my boy in a big way!"

Matthew Best, who serves in Emerald Youth's Calling and Career Ministry, and Jared Boyd, Youth Pastor at Heritage Fellowship in Jefferson County, were our guest speakers. Over the two weekends, eleven students made first time decisions to follow Jesus. Thank you to everyone who gave to make YOKE camp possible! 

On Tuesday, November 6th, all students were out of school for Election Day. Since many of our YOKE Clubs meet on Tuesdays, we decided to take this opportunity to come together for All County Club, rather than taking a week off.

YOKE Folk and kids from 22 schools came together at two separate locations for All County Club—in Knox County (with two Anderson County schools joining as well) and in Blount County. The theme of both events was “School Spirit”, so students and leaders were encouraged to come dressed in their school’s colors and compete for a Spirit Award.

The Knox All County Club was held at Emerald Academy. More than 160 middle school students and leaders packed into the gym for a fun-filled night resembling one of the YOKE clubs that our students attend on a weekly basis—only much bigger. Between Knox and Anderson counties, 16 schools were represented at this event. The night concluded with a devotional talk from Brandon Blair, the Student Pastor at Fairview Baptist Church, and with Halls Middle School taking home the Spirit Award.

The event in Blount County took place at Camp Tipton, a youth camp in Maryville which is a short drive from most of the schools YOKE serves there. More than 70 students and leaders from six schools were represented for an evening of high-energy games, songs, and worship. Adam Crisp, the Student Pastor at RIO Revolution Church, was our guest speaker. At the end of the night, Union Grove Middle School was given the Spirit Award.
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It’s always fun to gather so many of our students and leaders into one location, especially this year, with the addition of three new schools. The students who attended got a glimpse of the larger YOKE community beyond their own school. All County Clubs are fun, and they provide one more opportunity for middle school students to develop meaningful relationships with their mentors.