Fall 2012 Saddle Lights: Update

Dear Friends and Family, we have worked for 2 years to get to a place where we could host our first weekend getaway trip; and thanks to all of you, we were able accomplish that and so much more in 2012! It has been a fabulous year, and Jesse and I have had the rich joy of watching lives connect with Jesus for the first time because of it. We want you to share in that blessing, made possible by all of your donations, prayers, and our sweat and work.

Some of our 2012 highlights include:

·       Our first multi-day mountain biking tour in Northern Arizona!!!

·       Deeper connections with Northern Arizona Young Life through hosting student events

Read on for more exciting details!!!

-First Mountain Bike Tour-

The trip was a multi-day mountain biking adventure around Flagstaff, AZ in October.  We started from the Fort Valley Trailheads in Flagstaff and rode along the Arizona Trail, which skirts the San Francisco Peaks and traverses all the way to Cedar Ranches on the way to the Grand Canyon.  The 44 mile journey took two days and two nights, and cut through beautiful golden colored aspen groves which rained their leaves down on us while 9 young women and 3 staff enjoyed the cool fall air in the mountains.

The first night we set up camp, ran through orientation, ate together, and shared life stories & testimonies around the campfire, with worship, teaching, & prayer. The moon was so full that you could see clearly at midnight without a flashlight!

  We started our first riding day with a broken chain, but a quick fix kept the group going. We rode 21 miles of beautiful single-track the first day, 7 miles of which were climbing and greatly challenged the women to push themselves beyond what they thought they could do! At the top of the climb, just below; the Arizona Snowbowl ski area at 9000 ft,  We stopped for lunch in a meadow before embarking on a fun and winding descent to an aspen grove where we camped night 2.  Jesse and 2 other men cooked and set up camp for us, while one of the riders, a church worship leader, played guitar and led worship around a campfire. Some great teaching time in The Word, more sharing of testimonies, prayer, and s'mores finished the night off with warm hearts and full stomachs under the full moon! The next morning we took off for the long descent off the mountain, practicing new skills and safety. En route we had a wipe out on the gravel and an injured rider. She was quickly taken to the doctors, cleaned and stitched up, and has healed well. The rest of us finished with a lunch break, more sharing of life stories, some fun antics at the finish line, and a group photos at the end.  We shuttled from the finish straight to “The Commons”, our church home in Flagstaff, where the women shared about how the challenges they faced pushed them out of their comfort zones, and how they grew from hearing each other’s life stories, the teaching times, and worship under the stars, away from the responsibilities of life. It was a two day trip that impacted their growth in God, and thanks to you all, with your prayers and financial support, it was able to be accomplished!!!

-Deepening partnership with other youth organizations in Northern Arizona

This year we have begun to volunteer extensively with Northern Arizona Young Life, a student led ministry that reaches hundreds of high school and college students each week in Flagstaff alone.  We host “Club” every Monday at our house, where a group of 20 high-schoolers from Coconino High School take over our living room. 

We also hosted a Flagstaff fall harvest party at our home.  Over 120 high school students attended.  We loaded up the Saddle Lights trailer with hay bales and took students on a hay ride as part of the fall festivities.  It was awesome to see the gospel shared with so many young people, right in our back yard!!!

Beyond just providing a location, our ministry with Young Life has been to pour into the student leaders, 5 college students, who each spend 10 hours or more per week ministering to high school students.  We see Saddle Lights emerging as great partner with Young Life, using adventure based discipleship in deepening the faith and knowledge of God’s word among student leaders.

  

-Keeping the wheels rolling!!! -

One key element in adventure based discipleship is breaking away from the normality of every-day life.  This requires transportation of riders and gear over long distances to access some of the most beautiful areas in God’s creation. For our first trip we were able to borrow a diesel truck to tow our trailer and hired a shuttle service to transport riders.  The borrowed truck was a huge blessing, but will not always be available when we need it, and the shuttle services increase the cost of operating a trip considerably.  Our goal from the beginning has been to keep per-rider trip costs at a minimum, ensuring Saddle Lights trips are accessible to anyone seeking to come.

We have the incredible blessing of a donor who is willing to fund the down payment and some of each monthly payment to purchase a quality used truck to operate our trips.  Hauling heavy loads long distances and across bad roads in remote areas, we require a ¾ ton diesel with 4-wheel drive.  This truck will ensure that we can capably transport our gear and reliably support our riders long into the future.

Together, we can pay off this truck within the year.

*So, here’s how you can help:

This letter you are reading is being sent to 200 families that have expressed interest in supporting Saddle Lights; either through prayer or financial giving.  Together we can purchase this truck in 2013 with:

·       20 people pledging $100 a month

·       40 pledging $50 a month OR

·       80 pledging just $25 a month

Please consider being one of 20, 40, or 80 who gives toward this goal. We need you! As always, one time donations help immensely too!

Thank you, most of all, for all of your prayer support and financial support so far. We have great hopes for future weekend getaways, Border to Border trips, and Coast to Coasts. But we cannot do it alone, only together!

We are praying about this need, and would ask that you would, too! Our God holds the treasures of the world in His hands, and we know He is faithful to provide right when we need it.

Please pray with us, and consider giving! All of your donations are tax – deductible.

Blessings--      Jesse & Kelly Hibbs

Newsletter June 2012

Dear Saddle Lights Friends & Family,

Many of you will also be receiving this in the mail, but since our world is digital, we thought

 we'd share it here, too!

Our long-overdue update for Saddle Lights is here! Thanks for reading!

Highlights:

·        Our discussions with Taylor dissipated just after Christmas without a definite decision for the future of our relationship

·        We are launching in Northern Arizona this fall!!!

·        We are connecting with local ministries to coordinate our trips with their staff and students

·        In preparation for our launch, your support has purchased $15,000 in equipment including a fleet of 15 bicycles, a cargo trailer, and trail kitchen!  Thank you for your support!

Through the second half of last year our efforts were heavily focused on establishing a relationship with Taylor University.  Although there is still much interest from both Taylor and Saddle Lights to pursue a future partnership, the timing is not perfect right now.  The door has not closed, be we feel God’s leading to start working directly with students and not be stuck in a perpetual planning/dreaming mode.  Your support and generosity has rapidly brought Saddle Lights to a place that we could truly consider gearing up for smaller scale trips.  Through December and January, we prayed continually about buying a house and settling into Flagstaff for the foreseeable future; in April God blessed us with a home and we are now excited about starting the first trips this fall.

It’s no secret that we have been learning and growing at a hundred miles an hour with Saddle Lights. It’s been a great journey, and we believe God is still directing this in the way He wants it to go.  We shifted focus this spring on developing relationships with the leadership and students of Northern Arizona Young Life, as well as church based youth groups and leaders throughout Flagstaff. We have seen a strong desire from both students and leaders for adventure-based/experiential discipleship opportunities to be offered locally. We see this as a great fit and are thankful for such fertile ground to plant and grow the beginning of this ministry. 

We have two trip goals for this calendar year, and it’s all about building. These two trips will be our official “first” tours. We are very excited! The first trip will be for many ministry leaders that have expressed an interest in learning more about Saddle Lights. Our goal is to give them a first-hand understanding of what their students will experience on a Saddle Lights trip. During this 2 day getaway, we will break in our gear, cooking, guiding, first aid, and teaching on these leaders. (Yes, they all know they’re our guinea pigs!)

The second trip will be our first student trip, connecting to students through the youth leaders from our first trip. We strongly desire to sponsor (heavily subsidize the trail fee) the first round of students, thanks to you all.  Thank you, thank you, thank you all again for your generosity. This would not be possible without you!  Any donations you make this year will go directly to sponsoring students to ride.  Please consider giving again (anticipated trip cost is $250 per student)!

We do not know how long God will have us in Flagstaff, but we are confident in His timing and direction to start here and now.  Please continue to pray for His provision and direction for our future personally and for Saddle Lights.

Thank you for your prayer and patience as we try out our new wings. We cannot do this without you, your prayer, and your support. We are so grateful for your interest in Saddle Lights and impacting the lives of students through the love of Jesus Christ!

Blessings on you all!

Jesse & Kelly Hibbs

The pain of Loss

A family friend was lost this week to a severe heart attack. Please be in prayer for all affected by the loss. Fritz and his wife, Linda supported Saddle Lights ministry, and Fritz's desire was to participate as a leader/volunteer on one of our future coast to coasts. His passion for adventure and pursuit of God made him a blessing to this ministry.

The family has, ( a surprise to us), asked that in lieu of gifts or flowers, donations be made to Saddle Lights in his name.

If you'd like to give, you can paypal "Saddlelights@gmail.com" with your gift, or mail a check to 2751 N Walnut Hills Drive, Unit 62, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, Attn: "Saddle Lights" Memo: Fritz Kreuzer.

With prayers from the heart, Jesse & Kelly

From the papers:

Frederick Alan "Fritz" Kreuzer embarked on his last adventure Saturday, February 25th, 2012. What can you say about a man who was loved by so many? Fritz was born in Las Vegas, NV, on February 26, 1945. He attended Northern Arizona University on a football scholarship, where he earned a B.S. in Zoology in 1967, and was voted Most Inspirational Player on the team. He went on to graduate from medical school at the University of Arizona in 1971. Fritz was a beloved physician, bringing over 14,000 babies into the world during his esteemed career, touching countless lives with his passion and larger-than-life personality. Whether golfing, cycling, woodworking or enjoying memorable adventures with his beloved wife Linda, Fritz lived a life of unfettered abandon. His greatest legacy, however, is the love he bore his family, his friends, and his God. His life was transformed by that love, and humbled all of those who were blessed to be its recipients. Fritz is survived by his wife Linda, the love and light of his life. He is also survived by his children, Brent (Kathy) Kreuzer and Sherri (Steve) Rosalik; children of Paula O'Dowd, and step-children Chris (Ali) Tharp, and Kendall (Justin) Lamb. He had four beloved grandchildren, Courtney, Colton, Liam and Noah. He is also survived by brother, Ted and sisters, Nina and Katie. The family requests that memorial donations be made to Saddle Lights Ministry or the charity of your choice in his name. A memorial will be held at Tucson Country Club at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 3rd. Arrangements by ADAIR FUNERAL HOME, Avalon Chapel.

Steam Engine

We're chugging along to get our speed up to launch our first trip May 5!

So far, we've gotten a bunch of our kitchen equipment, pans etc, 18' flat bed trailer, and fleet of 15 Trek bikes. WOOT! Photos to follow :

Jesse will be retro fitting the trailer with bike mounts and bars, and some other features to suit our hauling needs. He's getting volunteer help from our good friends, Beau Wilson (buildout) and Nate Dahl (design). Thank you guys! We so appreciate you.

When they're all three done putting their brilliant heads together, the trailer will hold 25 bikes with a good bit of gear. A Uhaul or larger rental truck will tow the rest, cuz let's be honest, our little 4 cylinder '97 tacoma started smoking and burning up our clutch while trying to haul the empty trailer to our storage unit.

So things to pray about, moving forward, we need a truck! A tundra or larger, cuz our little guy just isn't gonna cut it. Renting is our only option for now, but that increases the trail fee per student significantly for every trip. So if you know of anyone or any group willing and able to give, pass the word along :)

We're working on putting the bikes together (the don't come assembled), buying more equipment gear, connecting with local youth and college leaders, setting up our "dry run" trip with volunteer staff and friends, getting permits for the routes, insurance, food plans, transpo, logistics etc. Pray for us, it's a lot to juggle on top of full time work!

Get your students signed up, and on board! We're pumped to have them, and have some great stuff planned for our first high school getaway, May 5 in Sedona, and our first college getaway in the end of June, Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. Yahoo! (see our facebook events page at www.facebook.com/saddlelights or our tour dates page on our website at www.saddle-lights.com).

Blessings!

Saddle Lights trips have begun!

It's been far too long since we've written in here, but the truthfully, it's been awhile since any strong movement has happened. So guess what? Movement has happened!

Although we continue to pray about where God would take this ministry (locationally), for right now, He has us here in Flagstaff, and we are very excited about it!

Through your prayers and financial support, we have been able to raise $22,000 over the last 1.5 years. With these funds we are launching our first Saddle Lights adventure biking trips this Spring, 2012!

Basing from Flagstaff, we will be taking 20+ High School or college students on overnight single-track Mountain bike trips to Sedona's Red Rock National Park, the Grand Canyon, Black Canyon City's new trail and more!

We will be investing in a fleet of 15 bikes, to provide a means for students to come along who don't own their own bikes, as well as renting a Uhaul to carry their gear, and provide food, first aid, etc. Each trip will be filled with a pursuit of God, through in-depth teaching and discipleship (Precept) with the adventure and fun!

The first trip is set to begin March 17-19 along the Black Canyon City trail, meant for college students. The first high school trip will be in Sedona in the beginning of May. The full schedule can be found here, or on our website, www.saddle-lights.com or on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/saddlelights.

All trips are subject to change based on how many have signed up, and weather conditions.

We want you and your kids with us! Download an application as of February 1, 2010 on our website!

Jes & Kel

Meetings with Taylor Update

Thank you all for your prayers and support this weekend as we traveled to Taylor University for our meetings with President, Dr. Gene Habecker, as well as many other leaders in Taylors campus administration. Overall, the weekend went incredibly well. We have heard it said that, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” So, our approach has been to tell God the desires of our heart and ask Him to reveal His plan to us. This weekend, He did just that, and more!

In a way, much of what we have been planning was blown into a million pieces, but with a perspective of rebuilding it 50 times better and faster than we could have before.

(Kelly Hibbs, Randy Gruendyke, Steve Austin, Jon Cavanaugh, Jesse Hibbs)

So much of our planning has been focused on the minimum provision required to get Saddle Lights off the ground, that we haven’t really pursued thinking about how big God could provide for Saddle Lights.

As we met with Taylor University, not only did we feel that our excitement for Saddle Lights was shared, but we were challenged to entertain some possibilities that are much larger than we had initially let ourselves dream.

Our plans are in the process of being revised and revisited as we de-brief and incorporate feedback received Friday. I know much of what I am writing is cryptic, but we hesitate to publish anything until things begin to come into focus for us and gain certainty.

One thing we can be direct about, is that funding for Saddle Lights does not fit in Taylor University’s general budget. This sounds like a bad thing, but quite the contrary. Not to speak for anyone, but across their leadership we were getting head nods that Saddle Lights’ mission and vision are aligned with Taylor’s and that it makes sense to pursue a partnership.

We have a lot of work ahead of us and are excited to share how God is moving in great detail, when we feel that details are appropriate to share. For the time being, be excited with us that God IS moving, and in ways that seem to be much larger than we would let ourselves dream. Jehova Jairah! We are still hoping and praying for provision and a full-time launch by August of 2012 (next fall), with the first tour starting in 2013. But His timing is the perfect timing, so we’ll wait and see what God says about that.

Kelly Hibbs, Jesse Hibbs, Janech Davenport, Bob Davenport

While in Upland we also spent some wonderful time reconnecting with Coach and Janech at Wandering Wheels. Not only were they the leaders of our first Coast to Coast experience, but they have provided valuable council to us as we have been planning Saddle Lights. It was a great time to revisit with them, and discuss how God could unfold a much bigger picture than we first imagined. Pray with us!

Just to Write

It's been hard to find time to sit and type lately; we've been traveling so much that we can hardly catch our breath. But I wanted to share with you, our few readers, how much God's been moving and speaking and working in us, and Being God on our behalf throughout 2011.

It's been a hard year. I find reassurance and encouragement at the fact that my Grandma, at nearly 80, said God is still teaching her and re-teaching her what it means to have faith. And my mom is saying the same thing...so being that I'm 26, I have a long road ahead of me. (Honestly, that partly daunts me, and partly excites me). For now, I take one day at a time.

So let me back up and say that as a person, I am a go-getter, type A personality, git-er-done kinda gal.. The kind of girl that drives my very diligent, very responsible, but less aggressive husband crazy at times. This aspect of who God made me to be brought me great success in previous work situations, and had been strengthened over time to become more efficient in many areas of skill. So, starting a new non-profit was not only the loudest calling from God that Jesse and I have ever heard (Romans 8:28), but also one that excited me greatly. Everything about starting up a new venture is what I was made for.

Our year started out with some photography work for me ( I run a studio out of our home) and a lot of grant writing for Saddle Lights. In six weeks I sent out almost 30 grant requests around the country seeking funding. Woof. (as my sister in law says!) That was a lot of work. We had our hopes up high about God's provision, and set out to do many other tasks involved in continuing the launch of SL. The wait til April and June (when most of those grants would be reviewed) felt like forever. We finally received word back from all of them in June that we were not funded.

Back to SL: the amount of networking, sharing, management, marketing, etc that is required for SL is what I was geared for, so to speak. And in wisdom we have been counseled in two ways, both that God has given us gifts/talents/abilities to use towards the tasks at hand, and that we are to work hard using those to achieve what's in front of us....and the other side being, that we act on complete faith, not doing a single thing, and watch Him show up in His very glorious, God sized way. Over time, His word has made it abundantly clear that it's not an either/or situation. It's a both for Saddle Lights.

We have labored, worked, called, accomplished, and prayed fiercely. We have also known that God doesn't need us to do any of that for Him to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. So we've hit a point where we've knocked on every door we (and everyone else we've spoken with) can think of, without a 'yes', and only a 'wait'. At this point, we've ceased our strivings and started only abiding, waiting on His timing.

Getting to that point, though, was not an easy lesson learned. Three different times this year, God has had to tell me in very hard ways, that His timing, is His timing, The first two times, I had to endure very unpleasant, painful circumstances, wondering why He was allowing this and not providing when I was begging Him to. And very clearly, both times, He used different people to tell me that His timing was His timing, and even if I don't understand it, or like it, He is God, and I must trust Him. The third time was in His abundant provision. Provision I have prayed for, for three years, and then stopped praying for, because I finally released the desire to Him. And just when I needed it the most, even though I'd stopped seeking it, He provided it more abundantly than I could've hoped for over. Not a second too soon, nor too late, because His timing is perfect. And above all, it's His.

So for Saddle Lights, we are still waiting; abiding, and waiting.

Now Jesse and I have the chance to plug in with our church small groups again, and I have the exciting chance to mentor two Senior-in-HS girls. I am so excited about the learning they're getting and the learning I'm getting, finally being on "the other side" of the mentorship picture. No matter what we do, or where we go, God has a purpose in all of it, and He gives us strength to stand in Him.

My life verse, Romans 8:28 is what I live by, trust and faith in Him. The Bible figure, Daniel, has always been my role model, strong in spirit, honest in character, filled with integrity, faced with adversity. We have had many trials this year, but we stand stronger Him because of them.

Kelly