Fusion Kick-off 2026 - Our Story

Me

Fun Facts:

Grew up on Grand Manan

Played hockey as a goalie most of my life

I have one sister and one half-brother

I love the New York Rangers

Didn’t know what to do with my life. I couldn’t picture myself being happing in anything.

Felt God calling me to be a youth pastor. Started taking my faith seriously. Started learning more.

Went to KU in Fall 2022, just graduated in 2026

We

We all have a story, and over the past four years our stories have collided in a lot of ways.

Not only do I have a story, We have a story. We have a story as a part of Fusion Youth.

So let’s go back to the beginning of Fusion Youth and talk about our story!

Started in 2023 w/Not a Youth Pastor Gavin Conrad

The first sermon ever preached at Fusion Youth was the instant classic, “Horse Poop Brownies”

And who could forget that Fall at KU Takeover Night when I almost lit myself on fire by blowing into a bowl full of flaming paper and then we later pied Gavin in the face.

During those early days we had leaders like Krista, Shane, Bree, Jésus, Tiny Tim, Tracy, and our OGs Rachel and the Canteen Crew

Then in April 2024 on a Fusion Takeover Sunday, for some reason, Encounter Church trusted me with the responsibility of being your Youth Pastor.

But shortly after this we entered into what I am calling THE DARK DAYS… Not dark because they sucked, but dark because your newly dubbed youth pastor moved moved right away and went back to Grand Manan for the summer!

At this time we did a segment called “On Call with Pastor Saul” where you guys would call me on youth nights so I could stay connected. And it would have worked great if I knew how to pick up my phone. Gavin dubbed it “Dropping the ball with Pastor Saul”

Thankfully the summer eventually ended and we got back to our normal program and the prodigal youth pastor finally returned home.

The Fall of 2024 was an exciting one. We had leaders such as Ray, Sherath, Justin, Logan, and Jonathan on our team at this time.

15 of us went to the Encounter Youth Rally that year, and one student even decided to get baptized after it!

That year we did Workshops designed to help you apply these messages to your lives and if I say so myself, we filmed some peak cinema!

God

Hebrews 13

Things, programs, and people may change, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:5-8 says,

Hebrews 13:5–8 CSB

Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In a world where change is one of the only things that is guaranteed, Jesus, God become human, always remains the same.

And this is such good news because of who God is.

Because of God’s character, what He has done for us, what He is doing for us right now in this moment, and what He is calling us to in the future, we should be overjoyed that that God is conststent, faithful, and never-changing.

Exodus 34:6-7

In Exodus 34:6-7 we get a clear picture of who God is, because these verses are God describing Himself to a man named Moses.

Exodus 34:6–7 CSB

The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

This is always who God has been, this is who He is, and this is always who He will be.

This is the God who we see act throughout the Bible and the God I have seen act throughout my entire life…

The God of compassion…

This past summer I had my heart shattered when my mom called me on a Saturday morning and told me that one of my childhood best friends had been in a car accident and died.

This wrecked me. It was the first time in my life that I had lost someone I had truly known and loved. I didn’t realize how hard it was to be left with nothing but the memories that a loved one leaves behind.

And like these things do, the pain just kept coming. Day after day, week after week.

But through every step of the hurt, I knew that I wasn’t alone. I knew that in the midst of the questions, the regrets, and the pain, God was right there beside me, mourning the loss with me.

And this has been a constant source of comfort for me in the midst of my heartache of just wanting to see my friend again.

I have seen the God of compassion. And I have seen God’s grace, His slowness to anger, and His faithful love.

Grace is a generous gift given from a place of delighting in someone.

Time and time again I have read the Bible and thought about my own life and have realized that I have failed to live the life God calls me to live.

Whether that’s the pride that lives in me that is always so judgemental of others. The pride that tells me I am better than everyone else.

Or my temper. Guys, I have a bad temper. When things don’t go my way I get angry quick. And it’s hard for me to control what I say in those moments, even to the people I love.

Or just my lack of care for other people. I can’t tell you the amount of people on Grand Manan who know, who have been a part of my life, and who care about me, that I barely know their name because I was too self-absorbed to care about them.

And yet, even in the midst of my failures, my sinful addictions, my straight up disobedience, I have called out to God for forgiveness and for the strength to change and He has given me that gift time and time again.

There have been multiple times in my life I have been stuck in a bad habit of disobedience. A bad habit of living the exact opposite way God wants me to live.

Right now, I am really struggling with being more vocal with my faith outside the church.

I regularly feel God leading me to go talk to people about Him or go pray for a stranger, but I am too afraid of what they might think about me or how they might act, so I walk away.

And I hate this, I hate that I am saying no to God.

And a lot of the time I feel like God will abandon me because of my disobedience.

But for some reason He hasn’t. He forgiven me and shown me more grace than I can count for. He still speaks to me through His Word and prayer and worship. He still brings me comfort and joy. And He’s still changing me and challenging me to live the life He has called me to live.

Even though I have hurt Him and His children, He has chosen to delight in me when I have asked Him forgiveness and sought to change my ways.

Not because God is stupid and I trick Him into forgiveness each time, but because that is who He is, a God who wants to give His children the gift of grace, of forgiveness, and of faithful love.

A God of love and justice

Often when I wrong someone, I feel the Holy Spirit convict me to go and apologize to them. One time, I had wronged so many of my friends that God lead me to openly confess to a group of people what I had done and to ask for their forgiveness.

And yeah, this sucks. But God is a God of justice. A God who wants wrongs to be made right. A God who does not let the guilty go unpunished.

And so, in His love and justice God has led me to apologize to lots of people. And most of the time it’s really hard, but I am met with so much love from other believers.

Exodus 34:6–7 CSB

The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

This is who God is, and He will never change, and that should excite us so so much because God is so so good.

Our Creator, the one who without we cannot live. (Through him we live and move and have our being).

A God of compassion, a God of faithful love, a God of forgivness, a God of justice.

A God who loves us so much that He was willing to send His one and only Son so that we may have eternal life in Him.

A God who now promises that He will work in us to create us into the people we were designed to be, in the world we were created to live in. The Kingdom of Heaven has come near. Phil 1:6. (do you feel broken, do you feel like the world around you is broken.)

A God who gives us purpose. God has work for you to do Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

A God who has called us to a better way of life. A way of love, justice, forgiveness, kindness, compassion.

And a God who empowers us to do the impossible.

Hebrews 1:10-12

You

Because we serve this kind of God you can trust Him with everything

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.”

You have the opportunity before you to experience a new kind of life in Jesus. John 7:37-39

John 7:37–39 CSB

On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

You have the opportunity before you to live as the person God created you to be with the purpose He has given you.

Pray: Ask God for this

Come to Youth and Church: Learn and be in Community

Start giving everything for God’s purposes:

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Learn to Trust: Listen and obey, live God’s way and you will experience the eternal life God has to offer you. You will see firsthand that His ways are better. Try living God’s way and see how good it and He is.

Malachi 3:10 CSB

Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

We