There is a phrase we often use around CLDI when talking about Youth Works: “True change happens one relationship at a time.” Over the years, we have watched that statement prove itself true again and again on Billings’ South Side. When people ask what Youth Works does, it can be tempting to list programs, events, camps, mentoring sessions, Friday breakfasts, or summer activities. While those things matter, they are not the heart of Youth Works. The heart of Youth Works has always been relationships — consistent, Christ-centered relationships built over time with youth who are often carrying far more than anyone realizes.
Many of the kids we walk alongside have experienced significant trauma at a very young age. Some have grown up amidst addiction, incarceration, instability, violence, abandonment, or chronic poverty. Trauma changes the way a child sees the world. It shapes how they trust, how they respond to authority, how they regulate emotions, and even how they imagine their own future. What we have learned over the years is that healing rarely happens through a single moment or event. More often, healing begins slowly through safe and consistent relationships. A trusted mentor. A meal shared every Friday morning. A car ride to an activity. A late-night conversation at camp. Someone showing up again and again, even when progress feels slow.
I think about one young man who first came around Youth Works guarded and untrusting of the world around him. He would have outbursts and we had to set boundaries, asking him to leave for the day when this happened. For years conversations were short and walls stayed high with jokes or frustration. But over time, through countless rides, basketball in the park, years of attending camp together, meals, and simple presence, trust began to form. Today, that same young man is moving into high school and last summer at camp he committed his life to Jesus. He spent the 13-hour bus ride back home asking every question he could about what it meant now, talking about his future and beginning to understand that his story does not have to be defined by the brokenness he inherited.
There was a young girl who quietly attended events for nearly three years before she finally opened up about the instability she was facing at home. How her dad was in and out of jobs and they were living on a family members couch. What changed her trajectory was finding Jesus in our 10-week warehouse discipleship program. It was the steady love and attention of mentors who saw her, listened to her, and reminded her of her worth in Christ. She is now in high school and wants to serve in our Hannah House daycare.
These stories are sacred reminders that transformation takes time. Trauma may shape a child, but it does not have the final word.
I find myself reflecting on another side of transformation that often goes unnoticed — the transformation of those of us who have given and served within Youth Works. We talk often about the life change we see in the youth we serve, but the truth is that Youth Works changes the leaders too. I think of Kaylee Thompson, who first entered the CLDI family as an Intern. Over time, she stepped into the role of Youth Works Director, faithfully investing in students and building relationships in the neighborhood. Today, she serves as our Internship Director and is a vital part of our Fund Development team. Watching her leadership grow over the years has been a beautiful picture of how God forms people through faithful service.
I think about my own journey as well. Years ago, if someone had told me I would one day serve as Executive Director of CLDI, I likely would have laughed. It was never a role I was pursuing or imagined for myself. Yet through my years serving in Youth Works, the Lord slowly shaped my heart, expanded my vision, and taught me lessons about leadership, humility, dependence, and faithfulness that could not have been learned any other way.
That is part of the beauty of this work. The Gospel transforms everyone it touches. Youth Works has never been simply about helping kids stay out of trouble. It is about walking with young people toward hope, identity, healing, and purpose in Christ. And somewhere along the way, those walking beside them often find their own lives transformed too. As we move through another summer filled with camps, activities, discipleship, and ordinary moments of presence, we are grateful for every person who makes this work possible. Your prayers, support, volunteer hours, and generosity are helping create spaces where relationships can flourish and where healing can begin. The work is slow. It is rarely flashy. But we continue to believe that God does some of His deepest work through faithful presence and life-long obedience – moving in the same direction.
Thank you for walking alongside us.
