Eric DeVries just finished his senior year at Grand Valley State University, he’s recently married to Lindsey and is the WyldLife co-team leader at Allendale Middle School, where he has been for the past four years. Eric became involved in WyldLife after high school as a result of his involvement with Young Life and his friendship with Church Partner Ryan White.
When asked why they were nominating Eric, Erin Iafrate, Staff Associate for Eastern Ottawa Young Life said: “Because he is a WyldLife leader, which gives you extra points off the bat. Secondly, he is so fun to watch as he leads middle schoolers, because they are actually following him. He is also very faithful and consistent, even in busy semesters (like student teaching) his commitment to WyldLife kids didn’t change.”
Eric models Jesus in every aspect of his life and because of his strong leadership, kids tune in to how he responds to different scenarios and have a desire to model theirs accordingly. When spending time hanging with middle school boys, Eric is passionate about teaching them to encourage each other instead of bringing each other down. This has taken many intentional conversations on his end, but they are willing to listen because he is their leader and has earned their trust through his time and commitment.
Each time he heads to camp with his WyldLife kids, be it fall or summer, Eric is easy to find: “100% of the time he’s playing Gaga Ball (Octoball) with 50 middle school kids and getting just as mad as the kids when he gets ‘out’,” says Iafrate.
Eric will do anything for kids, if they can’t afford camp he will go out of his way to creatively help them fundraise. If they don’t have a ride to club, he will drive twenty minutes to pick them up. If they don’t want to hang out after school, he willl visit them during their lunch period or play basketball during the after-lunch break. Simply put, nothing will stop Eric from being a positive influence in lives of these kids.
Eric: thank for your passionate commitment to showing Jesus’ love to the students of Allendale Middle School. Your dedicated, playful leadership is making waves in the lives of these students and an immeasurable impact on their lives and our community.
Use this form below to have each new post from this blog delivered to your inbox, we’ll try to balance out the spam.
